Britain wins right to keep Litvinenko death papers secret

London’s High Court on Wednesday backed a bid by the British government to keep secret documents linked to an inquest into the death of Russian dissident Alexander Litvinenko.

The coroner leading the inquest, Robert Owen, had sought to reveal the material in May on the grounds that his investigation would be hamstrung without it.

But Foreign Secretary William Hague challenged the coroner’s ruling, saying that disclosure of the material would damage the national interest.

A panel of three High Court judges quashed the coroner’s original decision.

“I am driven to the conclusion that the weight the coroner gave to the views of the secretary of state was insufficient and amounted to an error of law,” senior judge John Goldring said.

He said the decision “concerned the risk of significant damage to national security” and added: “Nothing we have decided reduces the importance of open justice.”

The coroner is considering whether to appeal.

Litvinenko, a former agent in Russia’s FSB agency, was poisoned with radioactive polonium-210 while drinking tea at a London hotel in 2006.

His widow, Marina Litvinenko, alleges involvement by the Kremlin.

British police have asked for the arrest of two Russian nationals in relation to the death, Andrei Lugovoi and Dmitri Kovtun, but Moscow has refused to hand them over.

The inquest — a fact-finding inquiry designed to establish the circumstances surrounding Litvinenko’s death but without apportioning blame — has been in trouble for months.

The coroner has called for a full public inquiry, saying his own hearing would not be able to get to the bottom of the facts. The British government has refused to conduct one.