Image caption The inquest is looking at whether Alexander Perepilichnyy died of natural causes or was unlawfully killed

A Russian whistleblower who died in mysterious circumstances seemed nervous the day before his death, his secret lover has told an inquest.

Elmira Medynska also said Alexander Perepilichnyy was sick on their last night in Paris a day before he collapsed near his Surrey home.

An inquest is trying to decide if he died of natural causes or was murdered.

The Old Bailey also heard that no traces of several poisons were found in his system.

Coroner Nicholas Hilliard QC has already heard no plant toxins were found in the whistleblower following claims he had been poisoned.

Image copyright Julia Quenzler Image caption Elmira Medynska (pictured next to a French lawyer) appeared at the Old Bailey via video link from Paris

Ms Medynska, a 28-year-old Ukrainian fashion designer, said Mr Perepilichnyy, 44, contacted her through a dating website in March 2012.

She said he used a false name and she did not know he was married with children until reading media reports after his death in November of that year.

The couple first met in Kiev in May 2012 with Ms Medynska saying he made a "very good impression as a nice and educated man".

They met again in Nice in June before their two-night "romantic holiday" to Paris on 8 November 2012.

Ms Medynska, who spoke to the court via video link from Paris, said he appeared "very stressed" about his work and was "on another planet" when they went shopping to buy her a Prada bag and Louboutin shoes.

Image copyright Elmira Medynska/Instagram Image caption Elmira Medynska was contacted by Alexander Perepilichnyy on a dating website

The night before his death they went to Buddha Bar, a luxury restaurant in Paris, where he took the best seat at the table so he could see around the room, the coroner was told.

He also sent back a dish believed to be either tempura prawns or vegetables which he said tasted bad.

When they returned to their five-star hotel, Mr Perepilichnyy locked himself in the bathroom for about an hour and Ms Medysnak said she heard him vomit three times.

The next morning he seemed in a "good mood" and had a "good appetite" for their breakfast before they went to the airport to return home, him to Weybridge and her to Kiev.

Image copyright Reuters Image caption Alexander Perepilichnyy was found lying in the road near his home in Weybridge

Ms Medynska said he seemed happy when they parted and was already planning their next trip to Switzerland in December.

Unbeknown to her, later on 10 November 2012, Mr Perepilichnyy collapsed and died while out jogging near his home in Weybridge.

Two days later she received a phone call from a British number from someone purporting to be the emergency services telling her Mr Perepilichnyy had been in a "car accident" and asking her what her relationship was to him.

She got another phone call the following day but her questions about how and where he was were not answered, she said.

Mr Medynska heard no more about her Russian lover until New Year's Eve 2012 when she read on the internet that he had died.

'You will die soon'

Those media reports also detailed his involvement in exposing a $230m (£150m) money-laundering scheme in Russia and suggestions he may have been murdered.

She said the reports about him "scared" her because she had only known a "very nice person" but "in fact I knew nothing about this man".

Ms Medynska said she also received an email from Mr Perepilichnyy's address after his death saying she would "die soon from Aids".

Peter Skelton, counsel to the coroner, asked if the email could have been sent by Mr Perepilichnyy's widow.

She said: "Maybe. I don't know."

The inquest also heard from Dr Stuart Black who had tested Mr Perepilichnyy's hair and urine for traces of heavy metal poisons, such as arsenic, or anion poisons, like cyanide.

He said the tests showed Mr Perepilichnyy "was not poisoned" with anything from either group.

The inquest continues.</s>An inquest into the death of a Russian businessman who may have been poisoned has resumed at the Old Bailey.

Alexander Perepilichnyy, 44, collapsed and died while jogging near his home in Weybridge, Surrey, in November 2012.

Surrey Police had said his death was not suspicious but traces of a poisonous plant were later found in his system, an earlier hearing was told.

The inquest has heard the whistleblower was helping expose a $230m (£150m) money-laundering operation.

He died a few months after applying for £8.5m life insurance, the court has already heard.

Mr Perepilichnyy was found lying in the road by a chauffeur at the exclusive gated estate where the Russian lived.

Coroner Nicholas Hilliard QC has already heard from police how two post-mortem examinations failed to reveal a cause of death and found no signs of "third-party involvement or foul play".

Subsequent toxicology tests from 2015 showed that a rare poison may have been used to kill him, but police said further tests at London's Kew Gardens drew a blank.

The inquest has resumed for four days with the coroner due to hear from plant experts and toxicologists.</s>Russian whistleblower Alexander Perepilichnyy spent the night before his death vomiting after eating food that tasted “bad” at an exclusive restaurant, his secret lover told his inquest. Perepilichnyy, who fled to the UK after blowing the whistle on a massive Kremlin-linked fraud, dropped dead outside his home in Surrey in 2012 after a secret trip to Paris to visit a Ukrainian model and fashion designer, Elmira Medynska. The police never interviewed Medynska, and she was called to testify at the inquest only after BuzzFeed News tracked her down. Today Medynska finally gave authorities her account of his final evening. Perepilichnyy was in a tense mood as they dined on sushi and tempura together at the Buddha Bar in Paris the night before his death, she told the inquest, demanding that he sit facing the restaurant’s customers and twice sending food back because it seemed off to him. Perepilichnyy seemed “very stressed,” Medynska said, and she had “a very bad feeling”. When they returned to their hotel, Perepilichnyy went straight to the bathroom and started vomiting repeatedly. His eyes and face were red and his skin was “very shiny” when he came out, Medynska said, but he declined to call for a doctor. Last summer, BuzzFeed News revealed that the British government was suppressing explosive intelligence provided by US spy agencies indicating that Perepilichnyy was assassinated on the orders of Russian president Vladimir Putin. The government has now opened a review into his death and 13 other suspected assassinations exposed by BuzzFeed News that authorities had previously ignored.

UK police have long insisted that there is no evidence of foul play in Perepilichnyy’s death — despite the fact that his name was found on a Russian hit list and he received a string of threats in his final months – and the Home Office has invoked national security powers to withhold evidence from the inquest. Police have said that they never interviewed Medynska — nor searched the hotel room the two stayed at — because, they told the inquest, it would be an unnecessary “fishing trip.” And when the previous hearing began last June, Medynska was not scheduled to testify. But she was called as a witness after BuzzFeed News found her and obtained details of Perepilichnyy’s final days. In an exclusive interview, she said Perepilichnyy had been stressed out on the day before his death: He kept going outside to take mysterious phone calls, his “hands were shaking”, and he was drinking “lots of wine”. After the BuzzFeed News revelations about Medynska and about the intelligence linking Perepilichnyy’s death to the Kremlin, the inquest was suspended for 10 months, beginning again this week — and today Medynska was summoned to testify via a video link from Paris. She wore a black dress with a blazer draped over her shoulders, her once-blonde hair now auburn and pulled back into a bun. She told the court that she had met Perepilichnyy, a tall, tousle-haired 44-year-old, in the spring of 2012 on a dating website. They met up in Kiev, where she was living at the time, and spent two days together. He told her he used to work in Moscow but “didn’t feel good there” and moved to London for a more “easy life”, but he was vague about what exactly he did for business. Perepilichnyy returned to London, and they kept in touch, Perepilichnyy using an email account with a pseudonym. “I think he wanted some privacy,” she told the court, “and I didn’t ask him so many questions.” At a bistro lunch during a summer assignation in the south of France, Medynska testified, Perepilichnyy took a phone call, walked out into the street, and started screaming into the receiver. “I ask him if everything is fine when he comes back,” Medynska testified, “and he says, ‘Yes, it is just the work.’”

They arranged to meet for the third and final time at the Hotel Bristol in Paris that November. As it happened, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev was in town and staying at the very same spot. Medynska repeated to the inquest what she told BuzzFeed News — that when they had lunch together, Perepilichnyy seemed nervous, his shaky hands spilling wine down his front. “He was in another planet so I was a little bit upset, and so he said, ‘let’s go shopping together,’” Medynska said. Yet as Medynska chose shoes, Perepilichnyy was checking his email. Lawyers at the inquest questioned Medynska closely about everything Perepilichnyy ate that day. When they returned to the hotel, Medynska testified, he ate a couple of apples. “I was saying, ‘Alexander, it’s nice that you eat apples,’ because he very takes care of his health if he eats apples,” Medynska said. At around 10pm, they went to a noisy Asian fusion restaurant called Buddha Bar for dinner. Medynska found it odd that he seemed nervous and refused to sit with his back to the restaurant’s other patrons, most of whom seemed to be “very old French people”. His eyes kept wandering to the stairs. A lawyer at the inquest noted that he had made bookings for the same night at a series of other restaurants that the two did not go to. When Perepilichnyy tried some of the food, his mood turned sour. She couldn’t remember exactly which dish upset him, she said, because she had gone to the restroom twice to wash her hands and to phone her mother, but she thought it was “something fried, like tempura.” They shared a bottle of white wine, and at the end of the meal he said he wanted some fresh air. Outside on the street, he felt better. They held hands as they made the short walk back to the hotel. But when they got to their room, he went straight to the toilet, where he stayed for an hour. He started running the water, but it did not obscure the sound of vomiting, which she heard three times. She said she did not actually see him throw up or confirm that was what he had been doing "because I cannot ask a man, have you vomited?" He seemed better when he came out, and in the morning, nothing seemed amiss. “He smiled, he invite me for the breakfast, we went to the first floor and went for eggs and bread and hot chocolate,” she said.

He told her he wanted to see her again, perhaps in Switzerland a month later, and they parted ways, Medynska testified. When she got home, she sent him a message “apologising for my behaviour because I was very cold with him.” But she never heard back, and that same day, Perepilichnyy returned to his home in Surrey, where he collapsed and died while out for a jog. Two days later, Medynska testified, she got a curious phone call from a British number. “They told me that Alexander is in hospital because he had a car accident,” she said, and they said her number was in his phone. She got a similar call again the next day. “I thought it was a bad joke,” she said. She sent him an email asking how he was doing. Months later, she received a response from someone using Perepilichnyy’s email address saying she would “die soon”. Medynska said that for a while she was in the dark about what actually happened to Perepilichnyy. She learned the truth on New Year’s Eve of that year, when she read it on the internet. “I was very scared,” she said, “because the last person to see him in Paris was me.”</s>A Russian businessman and whistleblower who died while jogging was nervous, stressed and shaky in the days before he collapsed, an inquest has heard.



Alexander Perepilichnyy, 44, was found dead outside his home in Weybridge, Surrey, on 10 November 2012.

Giving evidence via video-link from Paris to the inquest into his death, at the Old Bailey in London, his girlfriend, Elmira Medynska, said Perepilichnyy appeared distracted, and different from when she had seen him previously, when she met him in Paris two days before his death.

“When we went for lunchtime he was a little bit nervous,” she said.

“I think he was nervous about his work or business. I did not ask any questions about if it’s something that happened, I just want[ed] to have a relaxing time with him so I try to talk about some easy subjects to relax him because he was very stressed.”

Traces of a rare and deadly plant poison, Gelsemium elegans, were discovered in Perepilichnyy’s stomach after his death, the inquest has heard. However, Surrey police and Perepilichnyy’s widow have disputed that he was murdered and said the scientific evidence was inconclusive.



Perepilichnyy was threatened after revealing details of a $230m (£165m) fraud, stolen from taxes paid by the investment company Hermitage Capital to the Russian treasury, carried out by a gang with alleged links to the Kremlin.

A lawyer who investigated the case, Sergei Magnitsky, was arrested and died in prison in 2009.

Medynska, a Ukrainian fashion entrepreneur, first met Perepilichnyy in Kiev in May 2012 after he had begun messaging her in March, having seen her profile on an online dating site.



She told the court that when she met Perepilichnyy in Paris, where they stayed at the Hotel Bristol on 8 November, he drank a lot for lunchtime and more than usual, spilling wine on himself. She said his hands had been shaky.

When he took her shoe-shopping the next day, he was “on another planet”, ignoring her, looking at messages on his phone, she said.

That night, they went to dinner at the Buddha Bar. Medynska said Perepilichnyy positioned the couple so he could see everyone around them but she could not. She thought this unusual as this meant him sitting on the sofa and her on the chair, whereas it was customarily the other way round.

“He was looking for people around ... He was a little bit stressful that evening,” said Medynska.

She told the court that Perepilichnyy sent back some food she thought might have been vegetable or prawn tempura because he did not like the taste, which angered him. She said he did not try her food but she could not recall whether she had tried his.

Medynska said when they went back to the hotel, Perepilichnyy was in the bathroom for about an hour, during which time she heard him vomit three times. When he came out of the bathroom he had red eyes and a red face but did not talk about vomiting or the food he had eaten earlier, she said.

However, Perepilichnyy was fine the next morning and ate breakfast normally before leaving Paris, she told the court.

Medynska said that she received four calls on 12 and 13 November from an English number from people with English accents claiming to be Perepilichnyy’s friends. They told her he had been in a car accident and that they were at hospital with him. They asked her lots of questions but did not tell her that he had died, Medynska said.

She told the court that she did not find out that he was dead until 31 December when she searched the internet for his name. Medynska said she was very scared when she found out, and later received an email from Perepilichnyy’s account saying: “You will die soon.”</s>A Russian mafia whistleblower feared poisoned was sick the night before his death following a romantic dinner in Paris with his secret girlfriend, an inquest heard.

Alexander Perepilichnyy visited the French capital with Ukrainian-born Elmira Medynska, 28, on a two-day break in November 2012.

Ms Medynska told an inquest hearing into Mr Perepilichnyy's death that he appeared "very stressed" about his work and was "on another planet" when they went shopping to buy her a Prada bag and Louis Vuitton shoes.

The couple stayed at the five-star Bristol hotel where Mr Perepilichnyy vomited repeatedly after he complained about his food during a dinner.

The whistleblower sent back his tempura prawns during the meal, she told the inquest.

On his return home to Weybridge, Surrey, the next day, Mr Perepilichnyy's wife made him his favourite traditional sorrel soup, the inquest has heard.

He later collapsed and died while out jogging.

Ms Medynska only learned of his death from the internet on New Year's Eve 2012 and received a threatening message from his email saying she would "die soon" from Aids.

Peter Skelton, counsel to the coroner, asked if the email could have been sent by Mr Perepilichnyy's widow.

She said: "Maybe. I don't know."

Ms Medynska, who works in fashion, appeared at the Old Bailey by video link from Paris.

She told how she met Mr Perepilichnyy through a dating agency and he paid for flights, smart hotels in Kiev, Nice and Paris, and meals together over eight months.

The inquest heard he changed hotels and used a false name, keeping the relationship "secret".

Describing their date on November 8 2012 in Paris, the former model said: "When I met him in hotel he was smile, he was calm, relaxed but when we went out at lunchtime he was a little bit nervous.

"I think he was nervous about his work or business. I did not ask him questions about if something happened, I just want to have relaxing time with him. I talked him about subject to make him relaxed because he was very stressed when I met him."

At lunch in a bistro at the George V Hotel, she said his hands were shaking so much he spilt his red wine.

She said they went back to their hotel before having a late dinner at a restaurant where he had soup and more red wine.

The next day, he was on "another planet" when they went shopping together.

She said: "He was watching his phone. I was upset because he gave me no attention and I was not in very good mood."

Mr Skelton asked if he might have been distracted by work.

She said: "Maybe he missed some mails. I respect him as a businessman. I understood he has a job to do even if he is spending time with a woman in Paris."

On November 9 they went out to the Buddha Bar for dinner but he sent back his tempura prawns because it was "not nice" and he had sushi or sashimi instead.

Ms Medynska said: "He said he did not like the taste. He was very irritated. He was very mad about the quality of the food."

Afterwards, he felt "better in the fresh air", but when they got back in their hotel suite, he vomited three times in the bathroom, the inquest heard.

She said: "I think maybe he vomited because it was not good food in the restaurant. I did not knock on the door because I did not want to make him feel uncomfortable."

On the morning of November 10, she said he was "looking very nice, good mood, smile".

They ate a "classic French breakfast" of eggs and hot chocolate before going to the airport together, for Mr Perepilichnyy to return to London and Ms Medynska to Ukraine.

She said: "He told me he wanted to see me. He said he want to meet in December in Switzerland."

Later the same day, Mr Perepilichnyy died near his home.

The witness said she received a call purporting to be from a British hospital and was told Mr Perepilichnyy had been in a car accident.

She said: "I was very shocked and afraid about this news. I thought it was like a bad joke happened to me."

On learning of his death months later, the witness said she was "scared because I know nothing about this man", not even that he was married with children.

Mr Perepilichnyy, 44, had been helping Bill Browder's Hermitage Capital Investment to expose a 230 million dollar money-laundering operation, the court has heard.

A month before his death, he had fought off a legal challenge by a debt recovery firm allegedly led by the prime suspect in the Alexander Litvinenko poison case.

The court heard that Russian prime minister Dmitry Medvedev had been in Paris between November 10 and 13, but the witness did not know it at the time.

Mr Browder attended the inquest which is examining if Mr Perepilichnyy died of natural causes or was murdered.</s>A Russian whistleblower who may have have been poisoned refused to meet lawyers in his homeland because he was ‘fearful for his life’, an inquest heard today .

Alexander Perepilichnyy collapsed and died suddenly while jogging near his £3m St George’s Hill estate in Weybridge, Surrey, on November 10, 2012.

He had been assisting a specialist investment firm, Hermitage Capital Management, expose a £150million Russian money laundering operation at the time of his death.

His inquest heard that at the time of his death, he was being pursued for cash by a Russian company owned by Dmitry Kovtun, one of the men accused of murdering former FSB operative Alexander Litvinenko with a cup of tea laced with polonium.

Perepilichnyy’s life insurance firm Legal and General (L&G) have suggested the 44-year-old may have been spiked with a deadly vegetable planted in his sorrel soup on the day he collapsed.

Buzzfeed also reported claims that the multi-millionaire businessman was likely assassinated on the orders of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Staff who discovered Perepilichnyy’s body in his high-security estate saw nothing suspicious about his death, and paramedics said it looked like a ‘textbook cardiac arrest’.

The long running inquest resumed at the Old Bailey today with the Recorder of London, Judge Nicholas Hilliard QC hearing fresh evidence ahead of a ruling on whether or not he was poisoned.

Lawyer Dimitry Lipkin, who met Perepilichny in 2010, told the inquest: ‘Alexander asked us to deal with a few matters on his behalf, mostly those matters were concerning his debts and he approached us as a physical person, privately.

‘There were four or five bases to that, and all these matters had a very complicated destiny. And when I say destiny I mean proceedings’ destiny as court proceedings’ destiny, so they were very complicated.’

The court heard Richat Ismagilov, Perepilichny’s brother in law, was granted the lawyer power of attorney, meaning he could act on Perepilichny’s behalf without taking instruction.

Mr Lipkin said he was first briefed by Perepilichnyy in Autumn 2010, following coversations over Skype and telephone, before meeting personally in a restaurant in Regent Street accompanied by his partner Oleg Ruchka.

Peter Skelton QC, for the coroner, asked why he didn’t fly to Russia, and the lawyer said: ‘He didn’t want to fly to Russia.’

When asked why, Mr Lipkin added: ‘We had information which was used in proceedings that he didn’t come to Russia because he was fearful for his life.’

The barrister asked: ‘Was the threat from a person or an organisation?’

Mr Lipkin replied: ‘I do not have any concrete information about this but I know one fact, that he did not take any action in this matter.

‘As far as I am aware he did not try to open any criminal matters and he did not contact law enforcement authorities.’

When asked how he knew that, Mr Lipkin told the court it was ‘because he did not do it through us’.

‘As far as you are aware, did Mr Perepilichnyy ever tell Mr Ruchka about the threats to his safety?’ Mr Skelton asked.

After Mr Lipkin said he had done, in ‘the same way he discussed it with me’, Mr Skelton continued: ‘Since Mr Perepilichnyy died, have you spoken with Mr Ruchka about Mr Perepilichnyy’s death?’

The Russian replied: ‘Only in the format that has already been covered in the newspapers.’

Mr Skelton inquired as to whether his partner is ‘aware of any information about who may have threatened or killed Mr Perepilichnyy’.

‘As far as I am aware, no,’ Mr Likpin said.

When asked whether the threat was ‘to his personal safety, or his finances’ he explained they were only instructed ‘for limited civil matters’ and were not his ‘strategic lawyers’.

The inquest heard that Perepilichnyy only mentioned the threats ‘in the very early stages’ and did not bring them up again.

‘To be clear, are you aware of anyone from Russia who has ever threatened Mr Perepilichnyy?’ asked Mr Skelton.

‘Are you aware of any organised criminals who may have threatened Mr Perepilichnyy?’

Mr Lipkin answered ‘No’ to both questions before Mr Skelton asked: ‘Did Mr Perepilichnyy ever speak of his connection with an alleged fraud involving Hermitage Capital Management?’

The Russian said he was aware of it through media reports as the firm handled other matters concerning the company.

He could not be sure when they first knew of their client’s involvement in it but confirmed it was before he died.

The inquest heard that the firm retained some of Perepilichnyy’s associates and relatives after his death but none of them offered any insight or opinion as to the cause.

‘So, even though there was this speculation in the national media, certainly here in the United Kingdom and elsewhere, that Mr Perepilichnyy may have been murdered, none of his relatives or associates expressed any view as to whether that is or is not true?’ asked Mr Skelton.

After telling the court he could not offer any opinions on Mr Ruchka’s behalf, he added: ‘He was threatened and he left Russia.

‘But who he was threatened by, I do not know.’

Mr Skelton asked whether his partner thought Perepilichnyy ‘was threatened in connection with the Hermitage fraud’.

‘All of this is just allegations,’ Mr Lipkin responded, ‘I do not have any facts.’

The inquest also heard that a company founded by a man accused by British authorities of murdering former KGB spy Alexander Litvinenko claimed Perepilichnyy had owed him money.

The firm, Dzhirsa LLC bought Perepilichny’s debts and tried to enforce them through the courts, but Hermitage Capital Management proved that it was not his signature on company documents.

Mr Skelton asked Mr Lipkin if he had heard of and link between Dmitry Kovtun and Dzhirsa LLC.

He said:’I have heard that surname somewhere but I don’t remember whether there was any connection.’

The coroner explained that Kovtun was found by a UK High Court judge to have murdered Alexander Litvinenko.

Lipkin explained he had heard of Kovtun because it was ‘quite a big case’.

Dzhirsa was founded by Kovtun, a former military intelligence officer suspected of spiking Litvinenko’s tea with polonium.

Mr Skelton asked: ‘Were you aware to a connection between Mr Kovtun and Dzhirsa LLC?’

‘I don’t remember such details, it is possible,’ said Lipkin.

Mr Skelton asked Lipkin: ‘Is Dzhirsa the type of company that, if it doesn’t succeed in court, may resort to a threat of physical violence?’

‘I don’t know,’ said Lipkin through the Russian interpreter.

Perepilichny was not present at the proceedings because he ‘feared for his life,’ Lipkin told the Old Bailey, although the lawyer claims he was only told this verbally and has no hard evidence for this.

Mr Skelton said: ‘I understand that but really you told the judge that Mr Perepilichny was outside Russia because he feared for his life, did she ask any questions about that?’

Mr Skelton asked the Moscow-based lawyer: ‘Leaving aside the Dzhirsa litigation, which we will come back to, were any of the debts that he was acting in respect of connected to persons or organisations with criminal associations?’

After a brief pause of discussion with the interpreter, Lipkin said: ‘He didn’t want to fly to Russia, we had information which was used in preoceedings that he didn’t come to Russia, he was fearful for his life.’

Mr Skelton said: ‘Are you aware of any threats to Mr Peripilichny’s life outside this judgement?’

Mr Skelton asked: ‘Are you aware of any information other than what you have read in the newspapers to suggest that Mr Perepilichny’s life was in danger prior to his death?’

Lipkin said: ‘Just in general, I don’t know anything specific.’

Mr Skelton said: ‘Do you have any other information that is relevant to Mr Perepilichny’s death, yes or no?’

‘No,’ said Lipkin, ‘apart from what I have already said.’

Mr Skelton asked: ‘Do you have any other information as to motive, motive to kill Mr Perepilichny - yes or no?’

Lipkin said that he did not.

‘Do you know anyone that might have any information to that effect, either that he was being threatened or that somebody was trying to kill him?’ asked Mr Skelton.</s>Russia's Deputy Prosecutor General Saak Karapetyan , spokesman Alexander Kurennoi (L) and representative of the Prosecutor General's Office Nikolai Atmonyev attend a briefing including the case of an ex-Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter. Photo: REUTERS / Sergei Karpukhin

LONDON – No plant toxins were found in the system of a Russian whistleblower who died aged 44 while jogging, a botanist told a London court examining his death, British media reported Tuesday.

Alexander Perepilichny died near the British capital in 2012 and, two years later, his life insurance company ordered tests that detected a toxin in his stomach from a Chinese plant called Gelsemium, which can trigger cardiac arrest.

But during an inquest examining the cause of Perepilichny's death, a leading botanist cast doubt on the theory he had been poisoned.

Monique Symmonds, from the Royal Botanic Gardens in Kew, told the Old Bailey court that she had not been able to identify any plant toxins, the BBC and Financial Times reported.

Perepilichny, a wealthy businessman, had been helping investment firm Hermitage Capital Management investigate a money-laundering operation when he was found dead near his home in Weybridge, outside London.

His lawyer at the time, Dmitry Lipkin, told the court his client "did not come to Russia because he was fearful for his life".

"He was threatened. He left Russia but who he was threatened by, I don't know," he told the court via video-link from Moscow.

The case has come under increased scrutiny following last month's nerve agent attack on former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in the English city of Salisbury.

Britain has blamed Russia for the attack, a charge vehemently denied by Moscow.

Following the Skripal poisoning, MPs have called on the government to re-examine 14 unexplained deaths on British soil in recent years, including that of Perepilichny, a Russian oligarch and a British spy found in a bag.

Lipkin said he had been working with Perepilichny on some debts that he owed in Russia.

"Alexander asked us to deal with a few matters, mostly those matters were concerning his debts," Lipkin said.

Asked if any of the debts were to organised crime figures, Lipkin replied: "I'm not aware of that".

The inquest is expected to last four days, with a verdict not expected immediately.</s>A Russian whistleblower was sick following a dinner with his secret girlfriend in Paris the night before his death from suspected poisoning, an inquest has heard.

Wealthy businessman Alexander Perepilichnyy, 44, collapsed while out jogging near his home in Weybridge in November 2012.

An inquest at the Old Bailey has been examining whether he died of natural causes or was poisoned and if so, who had a motive for his murder

Ukraine-born Elmira Medynska, 28, had been on a two-day break with married Mr Perepilichnyy days before his death, staying at the five-star Bristol Hotel in Paris.

She told the inquest on Wednesday (April 11) that he appeared "very stressed" about his work and was "on another planet" when they went shopping.

On his return home to Weybridge the next day, his wife made him his favourite traditional sorrel soup.

He later collapsed and died while out jogging.

Ms Medynska only learned of his death from the internet on New Year's Eve 2012 and received a threatening message from his email saying she would "die soon" from Aids.

Peter Skelton, counsel to the coroner, asked if the email could have been sent by Mr Perepilichnyy's widow.

Describing their date on November 8 2012 in Paris, the former model said: "When I met him in hotel he was smile, he was calm, relaxed but when we went out at lunchtime he was a little bit nervous.

"I think he was nervous about his work or business. He was very stressed when I met him."

At lunch in a bistro at the George V Hotel, she said his hands were shaking so much he spilt his red wine.

The next day, he was on "another planet" when they went shopping together.

She said: "He was watching his phone. I was upset because he gave me no attention and I was not in very good mood."

Mr Skelton asked if he might have been distracted by work.

She said: "Maybe he missed some mails. I respect him as a businessman. I understood he has a job to do even if he is spending time with a woman in Paris."

On November 9 they went out to the Buddha Bar for dinner but he sent back his tempura prawns because it was "not nice" and he had sushi or sashimi instead.

Afterwards, he felt "better in the fresh air", but when they got back in their hotel suite, he vomited three times in the bathroom.

Mr Perepilichnyy won a legal battle against a firm led by the prime suspect in a poisoning a month before he died, the court also heard on Tuesday (April 10).

Lawyer Dmitry Lipkin, who represented the businessman in a series of civil debt cases from late 2010, said Mr Perepilichnyy"feared for his life" in his home country and therefore met him in London in November 2010.

The court heard how some of the cases involved a company, referred to in documents as Jsa LLC or Jirsa LLC, which allegedly take on debt for recovery.



According to an interview with a newspaper in 2012, murder suspect Dmitry Kovtun said he was invited by friends to become a director of Jsa because he enjoyed a "certain reputation".

Mr Lipkin told the inquest how he successfully argued Mr Perepilichnyy's signature was forged on financial documents and won all the cases, including one appealed against by Jsa in October 2012.

Peter Skelton, counsel to the coroner, asked: "Is Jsa the type of company that if it does not succeed in court may resort to physical violence?"

Mr Lipkin said: "I do not know. We won that case."

On Jsa, Bob Moxon Browne QC, for Legal and General Assurance, said: "We know they had a reputation in Russia for acquiring money from people who did not want to pay it.

"It was not necessary for you to do research, Mr Lipkin, because Mr Kovtun was very well known in Russia in 2011 and 2012."

Mr Moxon Browne told the inquest that Mr Perepilichnyy had been sued over sums amounting to three million US dollars.

Referring to Jsa's final unsuccessful appeal, he said: "Do you agree, within one month of this judgment, which went against Jsa, Mr Perepilichnyy was dead?"

Coroner Nicholas Hilliard QC said: "I think we know the answer to that."

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Available to download from the App Store or Google Play for Android .</s>No plant toxins were found in the system of a Russian whistleblower who died aged 44 while jogging, a botanist told a London court examining his death, British media reported Tuesday.

Alexander Perepilichny died near the British capital in 2012 and, two years later, his life insurance company ordered tests that detected a toxin in his stomach from a Chinese plant called Gelsemium, which can trigger cardiac arrest.

But during an inquest examining the cause of Perepilichny's death, a leading botanist cast doubt on the theory he had been poisoned.

Monique Symmonds, from the Royal Botanic Gardens in Kew, told the Old Bailey court that she had not been able to identify any plant toxins, the BBC and Financial Times reported.

Perepilichny, a wealthy businessman, had been helping investment firm Hermitage Capital Management investigate a money-laundering operation when he was found dead near his home in Weybridge, outside London.

His lawyer at the time, Dmitry Lipkin, told the court his client "did not come to Russia because he was fearful for his life".

"He was threatened. He left Russia but who he was threatened by, I don't know," he told the court via video-link from Moscow.

The case has come under increased scrutiny following last month's nerve agent attack on former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in the English city of Salisbury.</s>Nasty seafood from a swanky Parisian restaurant may have killed a Russian whistleblower who died suddenly while jogging near his home.

Alexander Perepilichny, 44, mysteriously collapsed while out on a run near his London home in November 2012. He had spent the night before at the upscale Buddha Bar in the City of Love with his Ukranian mistress, model Elmira Medynska.

Perepilichny had been helping Hermitage Capital Management, an investment firm run by Bill Browder, uncover a $150 million Russian money-laundering operation when he died suddenly, according to The Financial Times.

Browder suspects that Perepilichny was murdered by Moscow because of the “explosive” information but British police have said that no foul play is suspected.

A criminal inquest into his death heard Wednesday that Perepilichny sent back tempura prawns and chomped down on sushi or sashimi 18 hours before he died, The Guardian reported.

When he got back to his hotel, he threw up three times in an hour, his girlfriend testified.

“I think maybe he vomited because it was not good food at the restaurant,” she said.

Cardiologist Peter Wilmshurst said side effects from fish poisoning can cause rashes, hives, cramps, vomiting, a peppery taste and itching — but are rarely fatal.

But he said the histamine released by the poisoning could have affected Perepilichny’s heart and that there was a 50% chance the Russian businessman had been poisoned.

“If you cannot find any other reason that becomes the number one suspect,” he said of the fish poisoning theory.

“The big problem is there are so many unknowns.”

Perepilichny’s girlfriend also reported that he had been “very stressed” and drank more than usual during their trip to Paris.

She said he seemed “on another planet” while buying her a Prada handbag and Louis Vuitton shoes and that she had no idea he was married with children.

His brother-in-law testified Tuesday saying Perepilichny had been jogging to try to lose weight and that he hadn’t been afraid for his life.

The inquest is scheduled to conclude this week.
Elmira Medynska, the partner of Russian whistleblower Alexander Perepilichnyy, tells his inquest at the Central Criminal Court in London he seemed nervous and had been unwell prior to his death. The inquest is attempting to determine if Perepilichnyy had been murdered.