| DEC 8: MEDICAL experts
have confirmed that Viktor Yushchenko, Ukraine’s opposition leader,
was poisoned in an attempt on his life during election campaigning,
the doctor who supervised his treatment at an Austrian clinic said
yesterday.
Doctors at Vienna’s exclusive Rudolfinerhaus clinic are within days
of identifying the substance that left Mr Yushchenko’s face disfigured
with cysts and lesions, Nikolai Korpan told The Times in a
telephone interview.
Specialists in Britain, the United States and France had helped to
establish that it was a biological agent, a chemical agent or, most
likely, a rare poison that struck him down in the run-up to the
presidential election, he said. Doctors needed to examine Mr
Yushchenko again at the clinic in Vienna to confirm their diagnosis
but were in no doubt that the substance was administered deliberately,
he said.
“This is no longer a question for discussion,” Dr Korpan said. “We
are now sure that we can confirm which substance caused this illness.
He received this substance from other people who had a specific aim.”
Asked if the aim had been to kill him, Dr Korpan said: “Yes, of
course.”
Proof that Mr Yushchenko was deliberately poisoned would be a
devastating blow for his rival, the Prime Minister, Viktor Yanukovych,
as the two candidates prepare for a repeat of a presidential run-off
on December 26.
It would raise questions about whether the poisoning was ordered by
Mr Yanukovych, his allies, or even the Kremlin, which fears that Mr
Yushchenko will take Ukraine out of its sphere of influence by joining
Nato and the EU.
Mr Yushchenko had said recently that he would soon reveal proof
that his opponents had tried to assassinate him, but a spokeswoman
said he had no plans to travel to Vienna.
Mr Yushchenko fell ill on September 6 and was rushed to
Rudolfinerhaus four days later with severe abdominal pain and lesions
on his face and trunk. His liver, pancreas and intestines were swollen
and his digestive tract covered in ulcers, but doctors could not
explain the symptoms. Against their advice he went back on the
campaign trail after a week, but returned to the clinic two weeks
later with back pain.
Again he returned to campaigning, with his face half paralysed and
a catheter inserted in his back so that doctors — still baffled —
could inject painkillers into his spinal column.
Rudolfinerhaus doctors had previously said that they did not have
medical evidence to back up or rule out deliberate poisoning.
Mr Yanukovych’s supporters ridiculed the opposition, saying the
illness was probably caused by bad sushi, too much cognac or a severe
case of herpes. A parliamentary investigation found no evidence of
poisoning.
But Dr Korpan said that toxicologists and other experts at
laboratories in Britain, the US and France had since examined Mr
Yushchenko’s blood samples and medical records. “We will reveal the
results in the near future and confirm the cause of this mysterious
illness,” he said. “We need to check him again here in Vienna. If we
received him today, we could finish the whole investigation in two or
three days.”
He declined to say exactly what the substance might have been, or
where it might have come from. “Maybe it was administered through
injection, maybe in water, maybe through eating, but the way to give
it to him is very simple. This substance can be given very precisely —
to only one person,” he said.
John Henry, a prominent British toxicologist, has suggested that Mr
Yushchenko’s symptoms were consistent with dioxin poisoning, which
causes a severe form of acne called chloracne. Doctors at
Rudolfinerhaus did not initially test Mr Yushchenko for dioxin, in
part because his skin changes were not as severe as they are now. He
also refused a biopsy of his face because he did not want to campaign
with stitches. Other doctors have suggested that Mr Yushchenko may
have been struck down by a rare illness.
(Times, UK)
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