by Copydude

We haven’t heard much from Litvinenko’s partner-in-crime, Mario Scaramella lately. That’s because they locked him up and threw away the key.

 

Mario is enjoying a little break from prison at the moment, but only under guard in the local hospital. Here he is said to be suffering from tachycardia, collapses, high blood pressure, blackouts, thyroid and prostrate swelling and hair loss. Oh, and a couple of heart attacks too.

Hmmmm. So how’s he doing? Senator Paolo Guzzanti says he has received a tearstained letter from Mario’s moll - one of the very few reported to have visited Scaramella in prison. Girlfriend Giorgia allegedly writes:

 

‘Today I embraced a man who had nothing left of Mario. No life, no enthusiasm, no character . . . They have killed Mario. My Mario is no more. Today I have seen a small, fragile, weak person, frightened, defeated… I write to you crying from the pain and the anger: I would have preferred he was dead than to see him destroyed in this way.’

Given that Litvinenko and Guzzanti were both mired in Mario’s scams, you wonder if they should also be rotting in jail now. But the Senator has diplomatic immunity, while Litvinenko’s immune systems failed in a different way.

 

There are charges against Scaramella but no one wants to press them. As with the Litvinenko case, officially it’s zip it and shut it. Unofficially, of course, the ’smearmeister’ Berezovsky is still bringing his own charges against Putin in the media, but these are becoming less credible with every month of official silence that passes.

 

Meanwhile, in Italy, Mario tells girlfriend that he could face another two years darkness without due process. So what is on the charge sheet? Principally, it concerns the slander of a Ukrainian KGB defector, Talik, whom Scaramella set up with the help of Litvinenko.

We can confirm this because Mario’s only other reported visitor to the slammer is Boris Volodarskomu, a historian and, co-incidentally, a consultant to the Litvinenko enquiry. He tells:

In Rome I was able to get a unique document - a copy of the formal charges. Very interesting accusation. Scaramella is charged with the defamation of Alexander Talik. That’s it. No other charges. The only official reason he was arrested, detained in prison until the present time, and hardly likely to be released anytime soon, is the attempted slander of a former KGB captain.

In the same interview with Svoboda News , Boris relates that Mario’s interrogations are only about Litvinenko and the false evidence gathered for the Mitrokhin Commission.

Says Boris:

‘So, his arrest is clearly linked to Alexander Litvinenko.’

Well, call me sentimental, but I was worried about Mario’s distressed girlfriend, so I e-mailed Berezovsky’s Litvinenko Justice Foundation. Since Mario and Sasha were deep in the same shit, couldn’t they do something for him? Apparently not. Louise Christian of The ‘Litvinenko Justice Foundation’ - title always makes me laugh - insists that Scaramella was arrested for totally unrelated crimes. Even though Litvinenko is implicated on the only official Italian charge against Scaramella.

Actually, the LJF website is a piece of work. Note the ‘Polonium Trail’ section. Entirely missing from the Berezovsky LJF map are hotspots like Boris’ own home and Alexander Litvinenko’s place.

Thank goodness for the BBC and AJ Strata. At least Litvinenko’s neighbours in London’s Osier Crescent are now aware that Sasha’s stash of Polonium may make his abandoned house uninhabitable for years to come.

Can’t help thinking though. No one had heard of Mario Scaramella before he met Litvinenko. And now no one has heard from him since. Funny sort of coincidence.