another prominent critic of putin. in 2013, he was found dead in his london home. originally called a suicide, a judge said he couldn t rule out murder. the way he killed himself he hanged himself with a scarf? a scarf, in the bathroom. and the fact that his bodyguard was not there. it raises questions. in february, 2015, another putin critic, boris nemtsov, was gunned down in the shadow of the kremlin. the victim was about to lead a major rally against putin. it went on without him. five chechnya nationals were arrested and put on trial. they have denied denied involvement in the murders. nemtsov s party colleague, vladimir kara - murza suspected putin loyalists were behind the assassination. people should not be killed for their political activity, because they happen to disagree with the government.
close to the source of putin s personal wealth would have been by far the most dangerous things that he could do. reporter: in addition to a possible motive there was also the means. paul joyal says the fact that polonium was used to kill litvinenko leaves little doubt as to who authorized the murder. so does that mean it had to be putin? it could have been someone else with access to come on, come on, you re not going to engage in an act of nuclear terrorism in downtown london without the knowledge of the office of the president. today we begin the open hearings in the inquiry into the death of alexander litvinenko. reporter: in january 2015, a public inquiry opened in london. it s a victory for marina, who, along with her attorneys, fought not eight-year legal battle to make it happen. on the opening day, her attorney argued the evidence leads to one disturbing conclusion, which litvinenko himself reached before he died.
management, and budget to testify in the impeachment probe. he spent several hours sbhien s closed doors with investigators. the white house press secretary said the unscheduled trip was to take advantage of the free waejd begin portions of his annual physical. now back to dateline. in the dead of winter 2015, we arrived in moscow in an effort to find out not only who killed former russian agent alexander litvinenko but why. this is home to andrei lugovoi and dmitri kovtun, hunted by both scotland yard and interpol, suspected of killing litvinenko. around the world they were villains in a tale of international intrigue and murder, yet here in russia we found plenty of people who thought if the two did kill litvinenko he probably had it
their lives had been interconnected but what about their deaths? random acts or as some suspect part of an international murder conspiracy thatna stretches acrs two continents and several world capitals. tonight, we ll investigate who wanted them dead and why. the case will take us from moscow to rome to london, into a world of spies and spy catchers, of corruption, and those who dare to t expose it, a world in which murder happens often. was there a hit list in mind? i m sure there was. but our story begins closer to home. o on a late winter evening, paul joyal, an intelligence analyst,, was driving to his house just outside washington, d.c. it was quiet and dark.
murder. reporter: and who better to do that than a police officer? than a police officer. that s all for this edition of dateline. i m natalie morales. thanks for watching. i m natalie morales. thanks for watching. nuclear terrorism. why was he killed? we follow the tale of a dark conspiracy. are you threatened for your life? we ll meet and confront the u prime suspect did you put polonium in the tea?