UK coroner asks for public inquiry into Novichok poisonings

By SYLVIA HUI
Associated Press

LONDON (AP) — A coroner presiding over an inquest into the death of British woman who was poisoned by a Soviet-developed nerve agent wants the probe to be turned into a public inquiry so she can examine Russia’s possible involvement. Unlike an inquest, British law allows a public inquiry to consider sensitive intelligence material during partly closed hearings. The inquiry coroner Heather Hallett requested Wednesday into the 2018 death of Dawn Sturgess would be unlikely to start before 2023. Sturgess and her partner were sickened in southwest England three months after an Novichok attack nearby targeting a Russian ex-spy. Britain has charged three men it alleges worked for Russia’s military intelligence service in the poisonings.