Putin can put behind bars

The biggest problem for Putin is that he will do after leaving the presidency and the loss of head of state immunity ...

For one Russian journalist recent series of murders and poisonings is very personal. This week, Maria Ivanova leave his house to start a new life abroad after she promised to give political asylum in America.

Winner of several awards and an expert on the Caucasus region, Ivanov accustomed to harassment and threats. Once it even beaten. However, in October last year, the event took a menacing turn when a stranger entered her apartment at the time when she was away.

Ivanov changed locks, drank coffee and went to bed. "Early in the morning I was awakened by a terrible pain - she says - in my mouth almost no skin, only bare flesh. The same thing happened with the fingers. The skin just beginning to flake off. " Her body was swollen, and Ivanov rushed to hospital. There she was diagnosed with kidney failure.

A month later, Ivanov was back in intensive care. She became ill and lost consciousness after drinking a cup of tea. At this time, the tests showed that it had insufficient blood supply to the heart. "I have no doubt that I was poisoned," - she says.

Ivanov - a fictitious name of the journalist. Before leaving Russia, she will feel in danger, and therefore does not want to give his name. "I live in fear - she said in the first interview about his illness - I feel trapped and I constantly threatened by the security services».

However, the Federal Security Service (FSB), new opportunities for action far beyond Russia after parliament last year gave her license to kill abroad.

It's hard to say what the country can be considered safe after the former KGB agent Alexander Litvinenko died in London after being poisoned with polonium-210. In America, in a hospital bed in a serious condition after a serious injury, it is Paul Joyal (Paul Joyal). In this expert on Russian intelligence and criticism of Vladimir Putin, was shot near his home in Washington. Perhaps he was the victim of an ordinary mugging, but no one knows for sure.

Some of Putin's opponents are going to get him to swap roles. A former KGB major and friend of Litvinenko, Yuri Shvets said that after the expiry of the presidential term in 2008, Putin will hunt abroad - just as happened with the late Chilean leader Augusto Pinochet, accused of human rights violations.

"The biggest problem for Putin is that he will do after leaving the presidency and the loss of head of state immunity - said Shvets at his home in Virginia. - He must fear that he could be another Pinochet. Putin likes to travel abroad. One day he may begin the descent from the mountain on skis somewhere in Europe, but in the end turn out to be behind bars ».

Professor of Law at Georgetown University in Washington, Barry Carter (Barry Carter) also says that Putin has cause for concern, "the Head of States as a whole are protected, however, following the resignation of Putin's legal status would be highly uncertain. In the case of a foreign trip, he will undergo substantial risk ».

The death of Litvinenko and journalist Anna Politkovskaya, who was killed in the elevator in his apartment building in October last year, could become the basis for the charge of conspiracy to commit murder.

Another reason could be, and the death of 51-year-old reporter on military issues of the newspaper "Kommersant" Ivan Safronov, who a week ago, fell from the fourth floor window of his house. He became the fourteenth journalist who died in mysterious circumstances after Putin came to power in 2000.

The Russian authorities have called his death a suicide. However, he lived on the second floor, and before his death had just returned from the store. Safronov was about was to become a grandfather. "Ivan and suicide - it is absolutely incompatible," - said the deputy editor Veronica Kutsillo.

Former KGB general Oleg Kalugin, who called Putin's war criminal, the years used to death threats. "I am very attentive to security issues, but journalists are less prepared for such dangers," - he said.

Soon after Joyal was shot in the groin, Kalugin wife called Paul, Elizabeth. "She wanted to warn me that I can be the next," - said Kalugin.

On the eve of injured Joyal he appeared on American television with criticism over the murder of Litvinenko. Kalugin does not provide specific assessments in connection with the attack, but said that the case of Safronov "is much more typical of everything that is happening in Russia - physical removal and murder of critics».

Safronov died after began investigating Russian plans to sell missiles and fighter jets to Iran and Syria. A Ivanova has written extensively on a very sensitive subject - the propagation of Islamic militancy outside Chechnya. "Things got so bad that I do not see any alternative but to leave Russia, - said Ivanov. - I just pushed out of the country ».

There is no evidence that the campaign against organized Ivanova Kremlin. However, the President encouraged the pressure on critics and allows you to create an atmosphere of impunity. None of the killings of journalists has been solved.

Critics are hoping that the threat of criminal prosecution of Putin in the West can keep his regime. "International protests knocked out of the rut of Putin - said Shvets - his concern that some degree of immunity, he will enjoy. In Russia, many are seriously thinking over what the post Putin may take in the future ».

So, what degree of protection from prosecution will be the head of state, it depends in part on his successors. "That's why they are so worried about who would replace him - says Carter. - I would advise Putin to get a good public office and hire an experienced in matters of international law, the lawyer. "