JURIST - Paper Chase: Russia says UK not providing enough evidence to prosecute Lugovoy

[JURIST] Russia has not yet received any evidence from Britain with which to prosecute Andrei Lugovoy [BBC profile; JURIST news archive], the primary suspect in the November 2006 murder of British citizen and former Russian intelligence officer Alexander Litvinenko [BBC profile; JURIST news archive], the chief of the investigating committee at the General Prosecutor's Office said Tuesday. In an interview scheduled to be published Wednesday, Alexander Bastrykin told government daily Rossiskaya Gazeta [media website, in Russian] that his office had only received documents riddled with contradictions and omissions. The UK Crown Prosecution Service declined to comment on Bastrykin's remarks. Russia has said it will not send Lugovoy back for trial to the UK, where he has been charged with Litvinenko's murder [JURIST report]. Russian officials say the Russian constitution prohibits the extradition of citizens for criminal trials in other countries, although they have offered to prosecute Lugovoi in Russia if presented with sufficient evidence.

Litvinenko and Lugovoy, both former employees of the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation (FSB) [official website], met in London on November 1, 2006, hours before Litvinenko fell ill to radioactive poisoning from polonium-210 [CDC backgrounder]. RIA Novosti has more.

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