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Ukranian Opposition Leader Poisoned
WEDNESDAY DECEMBER 8 2004 11:31 AM
Submitted by semyaza. Edited By Michael_J_Totten.
Viktor Yushchenko, the opposition leader in Ukraine who is a central figure in the contested presidential elections, was poisoned in an attempt on his life.
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.”
Yushchenko, widely regarded as a ruggedly handsome man, was in the midst of campaigning when he was struck ill and slowly became disfigured.
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.
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