Documentary about Alexander Litvinenko will have its premiere screening at the Cannes Film Festival this weekend
Wayne Rooney  |  by www.russiannewsroom.com. All rights reserved. 24.05 | 1:34

A documentary about former Russian secret agent Alexander Litvinenko, poisoned in London at the end of last year, will have its premiere screening at the Cannes Film Festival this weekend, one of the film #39s co-directors said Wednesday. Andrei Nekrasov, who was friends with Litvinenko, said Rebellion: The Litvinenko Case would be shown at Cannes Saturday, with Litvinenko #39s widow, Marina, expected to speak at a preview press conference.

French television channel TV5 said the film was a last-minute addition to the festival #39s program by Cannes Artistic Director Thierry Fremaux, who compared the movie to a big bang. On Tuesday, British investigators completed their inquiry into the murder of Litvinenko, who died in London last November after being poisoned with the radioactive element polonium-210. British prosecutors charged businessman Andrei Lugovoi, a former FSB bodyguard, with poisoning Litvinenko, and asked Russian authorities for his extradition - a request flatly rejected by Russia #39s Prosecutor General #39s Office, which said the suspect, a Russian national, could only be tried in his home country.

Lugovoi denied any involvement in Litvinenko #39s murder, dismissing the charges as politically motivated. After Britain #39s Crown Prosecution Service said it would demand Lugovoi #39s extradition, Marina Litvinenko issued a statement saying she was looking forward to seeing him extradited and brought to trial in the U.K.

But she added in a later interview with British television that Lugovoi could not possibly be the only one responsible for her husband #39s murder. We don #39t know why my husband was killed, and who asked for this murder. I believe it was not only one person, she said.

A member of Russia #39s ultranationalist LDPR party, Alexei Mitrofanov, has suggested that Lugovoi should go to the U.K. and try to prove his innocence to British prosecutors without hiding behind the Russian government #39s back.

That would make the situation with the extradition request less embarrassing to Russian authorities, he said. I would ask Lugovoi personally to go to England without creating further problems, Mitrofanov said. If he is so sure of his innocence, he will be able to prove it with the help of defense lawyers.

Read more on by www.russiannewsroom.com. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Cannes Film Festival, Film Festival, Cannes Film, Alexander Litvinenko
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