European Human Rights Court Issues Judgment in Litvinenko Case [1]
On September 21, 2021, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) ruled in the case of Carter v. Russia [3] that Russia has violated Article 2 (Right to Life) of the European Convention on Human Rights in its procedural and substantive aspects. The case dealt with the poisoning and death in London of Mr. Aleksandr Litvinenko's, a former Soviet and Russian security services agent who had been granted asylum in the UK. In January 2016, the inquiry of the UK authorities established that Mr. Litvinenko was, beyond reasonable doubt, poisoned by Mr. Lugovoy and Mr. Kovtun. The ECtHR held that Russian authorities failed to carry out an effective investigation related to poisoning and death of Mr. Litvinenko, and therefore Russia violated Article 2 in its procedural aspect. The ECtHR further held that the Russian Government did not provide a satisfactory and convincing explanation of the events or counter the findings of the UK inquiry. In addition, the ECtHR stated that that there is a strong prima facie case that Mr. Logovoy and Mr. Kovtun had been acting on the direction or control of the Russian authorities. The Court therefore ruled that Russia violated Article 2 in its substantive aspects. The ECtHR ordered Russia to pay the applicant €100,000 for pecuniary damages and €22,500 for costs and expenses.