The death of a Russian whistleblower needs to be reopened following new evidence in the Navalny frog poison death, say friends piling pressure on British authorities.
Alexander Perepilichny, a businessman who investigated organised crime and corruption in Russia, died after collapsing on a job near his home in Weybridge, Surrey, in 2012.
Six years later, an inquest found that the 44-year-old died from natural causes, but his vomiting symptoms indicated he may have been poisoned.
At the time, police ruled out foul play, but traces of a chemical found in a rare poisonous plant called “gelsemium elegans” were later found in his stomach.
Finance corporation Hermitage Capital Management previously claimed that he could have been intentionally killed for helping it lift the veil on a multi-million-pound fraud scheme implicating Russian officials.
The coroner at the time blamed Surrey Police for mistakes that led to a lack of evidence in the case.
Comparisons are now being drawn between this case and that of 47-year-old Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny.
On Saturday, the UK was one of several countries, including Sweden, Germany, the Netherlands, and France, that accused Russia of killing Navalny in a colony in Siberia.
Navalny had been handed a 19-year prison sentence on embezzlement charges that were believed to be fabricated. His death was announced by Russia on February 16, 2024.
At the time of his death, Navalny’s allies accused Russian authorities of murdering him for the political challenge he posed to the Kremlin.
In a joint statement released by the five countries, they referenced the traces of epibatidine found in Navalny's body, a toxin found on South American dart frogs.
Bill Browder, who assisted Perepilichny in exposing a $230m (£142m) money-laundering scheme in Russia, highlighted the similarities between the two deaths.
Speaking to The Telegraph, he said: “We were trying to determine what type of poison was used on Alexander Perepilichny in 2012, and with this new information on the Navalny poisoning, it has many similarities.
“It's a shame that the law enforcement authorities in Surrey were so quick to conclude that it wasn't a suspicious death and therefore did not preserve the evidence.
“In light of this new evidence in the Navalny case and all the suspicious circumstances surrounding the death of Alexander... I would hope that the UK would reopen the case that they so negligently closed for "lack of crime.”
An inquest in 2018 found that Surrey Police had lost or disregarded evidence, including the contents of Perepilichny’s stomach, which may have resulted in a different conclusion.
Officers also did not check CCTV from the area in which Perepilichny collapsed.
Epibatidine is only naturally found on the skin of the Ecuadorian dart frog, and if ingested, it results in a painful death by paralysis and respiratory arrest. It can also be produced synthetically.
Navalny’s widow, Yulia Navalnaya, said on Sunday night that Vladimir Putin “must be held accountable”.
She thanked the UK and its allies for proving that his death two years ago was likely to have been the result of the poison.
