| An investigation into the death of Yabloko Deputy Yury
Shchekochikhin is showing some "very alarming" results that
suggest he may have been killed, Yabloko leader Grigory
Yavlinsky said Monday.
Shchekochikhin, who also was a leading anti-corruption journalist, died
in a Moscow hospital at the age of 52 in July after suffering a severe
allergic reaction. Yabloko and Novaya Gazeta, where Shchekochikhin had
worked, arranged for tissue taken during Shchekochikhin's autopsy to be
analyzed at several laboratories.
"The analysis continues ... and we have very alarming news,"
Yavlinsky said Monday on Ekho Moskvy radio.
He added, however, that it is too early to say whether Shchekochikhin
was murdered.
Yavlinsky noted that Shchekochikhin's anti-corruption investigations
"infringed upon the interests of many."
Last week, a Yabloko official said in a telephone interview that prosecutors
have been informed of the preliminary findings of the tissue analysis
and that final results should be available by October. The official, who
spoke on condition of anonymity, said preliminary results indicate that
Shchekochikhin may have been murdered.
Shchekochikhin first made a name for himself in the early 1980s, writing
newspaper articles exposing corruption in the Soviet ranks. He had served
as deputy editor of Novaya Gazeta since 1997 and as a deputy in the State
Duma since 1995.
See also:
the original at
www.themoscowtimes.com
| 