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Alexander Litvinenko Brought to Burial

The Russian agent, Alexander Litvinenko, who was poisoned by a radioactive substance in England, was brought to burial according to Islamic law in a private ceremony held north of London. Litvinenko converted to Islam a few days before his death.

The Russian Public Prosecutor began an independent investigation into the Litvinenko`s death, alongside the British investigation that has already begun. Moscow`s Public Prosecutor announced that they have also started investigating the attempted murder of Dmitry Kovtun, who met with Litvinenko a short while before his death. The prosecution says Kovtun suffers of symptoms related to radioactive poisoning and that it may dispatch detectives to London in order to further the case. Thursday, both the British and Russian investigation teams took their first statements from Kovtun. The Scotland Yard released a statement saying they are regarding the case as a murder. 7 employees at the Millennium Hotel bar, where Litvinenko and Kovtun met, were checked and found to have low traces of Plutonium-210 in their body, the same substance that killed Litvinenko.

The Russian press covering the case, doubt that the Scotland Yard would be successful in investigating the case, due to the large number of obstacles they are sure to face. Manly due to the Russian Public Prosecutor`s announcement that Russia would not extradite suspected Russian citizens to Britain but will rather prosecute them on Russian soil. The prosecutor also added that it was impossible for the British to arrest them as that was against the Russian constitution.