Meanwhile, lawyers for an imprisoned security officer, Mikhail Trepashkin, said he has key evidence in the case. They appealed to the British officers to collect testimony from him as soon as possible, saying his life is in danger.

Alexander Litvinenko, 43, died Nov. 23 in London after ingesting radioactive polonium-210. In a deathbed accusation, he blamed Russian President Vladimir Putin for the poisoning.

Trepashkin, who is serving a four-year sentence for revealing state secrets, reportedly said in a letter from prison that he had warned Litvinenko several years ago about a government-sponsored death squad that intended to kill him and other Kremlin opponents.

The Japan Times Weekly: Dec. 9, 2006
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