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Russian MP says to use polygraph test results in court in London

The British prosecutors insist that Litvinenko died as a result of a sophisticated murder scheme

MOSCOW, April 25 (Itar-Tass) — Russian MP Andrei Lugovoi, a deputy chairman of the State Duma committee for security and counteraction to corruption said in an interview with Itar-Tass Wednesday he plans using the results of a successfully taken polygraph test in a courtroom in London, where is charged with involvement in the death of fugitive Russian security officer Alexander Litvinenko in November 2006.

The British prosecutors insist that Litvinenko died as a result of a sophisticated murder scheme contrived by Lugovoi.

He confirmed that British experts had subjected him to a polygraph test in Moscow April 24 and had a conclusion that he was uninvolved in Litvinenko's poisoning with radioctive polonium-210.

Lugovoi recalled that had made known his readiness to pass a lie-detector test on many occasions "but the British law enforcement agencies had always rejected it."

"Generally speaking, I didn't see them or hear anything from them for quite some time," he said. "I don't know what course the events will take in the future but I think it's quite obvious we'll surely use the results of this test actively at the Coroners' Court in London."

British law enforcement agencies have been demanding Lugovoi's extradition ever since Litvinenko's mysterious death, but Russia has strongly rejected the extradition requests, since the Russian Constitution prohibits any such motions unambiguously.

The British authorities have severed any cooperation between the two countries' security services and law enforcement agencies in the wake of the Litvinenko case.

Russia's Office of the Prosecutor General instituted an investigation of its own. Its object is Litvinenko's murder and an attempt to assassinate the Russian businessman Dmitry Kovtun, with Lugovoi featured as an eyewitness.

"In the course of investigation, the fact of Andrei Lugovoi's poisoning with radioactive polonium-210 received confirmation," Vladimir Markin, an official spokesman for Russia's Investigations Committee said at the end of last November. "The poisoning happened at the time of Lugovoi's active contacts with Litvinenko in London in October and November 2006."

Dmitry Kovtun, who accompanied Lugovoi to the meetings with Litvinenko, and Lugogoi himself are qualified by investigators as the aggrieved persons.

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