this is deja vu news live from berlin a military grade nerve agent was used to poison a leading critic of the kremlin that according to the german chancellor the russian opposition figure election of all remains in a coma in a berlin hospital we'll have analysis from our correspondents also coming up. called verdict of innocent in slovakia and a much watched case that toppled the government millionaire businessman marion was alleged to have ordered the killing of a reporter looking into his government dealings.

i'm brian thomas good to have you with us today leaders from around the world have backed the german chancellor's call for answers from moscow after her government confirmed that russia's leading opposition figure was poisoned independent laboratories found that alexina volley was attacked with a deadly nova chalke nerve agent like those developed by the soviets in the 1970 s. moscow disputes you know a geisha. for years alexei navalny has been fighting to rid russia of what he calls crooks and thieves. and you know the united russia party has always won for 20 years and even if they lost using fraud they won anyway. the outspoken opposition figure has organize numerous anti kremlin protests. has been arrested several times

for civil disobedience and even attempted to get on the ballot to run for president in 2018 his bid was blocked by the courts. but now he lies in an induced coma at a berlin hospital in critical condition german chancellor angela merkel calls the suspected poisoning attempted murder. alexina. let's say now about me is the victim of a crime he was meant to be silenced and i condemn this in the sharpest possible manner in the name of the entire german government. never found me is one of president vladimir putin's fiercest critics drumming up a vocal and growing opposition against putin's 20 year grip on power the valley has suffered physical and verbal attacks in recent years the attorney an anti corruption activist fell ill after boarding a plane in siberia headed for moscow on august 20th it's believed someone poisoned his tea before he boarded the plane the pilot was forced to make an emergency

landing to save his life. the german government says testing carried out by its military proves a soviet era nerve agent no overt shock was used. we expect the russian government to explain itself over this incident there are very serious questions now that only the russian government can and must answer with. russia is set to hold regional elections on september 13th in the valley and his allies had been campaigning to get their candidates elected but for now his family and friends are holding on to the hope that the valley pulls through let's get the very latest on this now with your correspondents nina hasa in berlin and yuri rasho for us in moscow is there to both of you know what proof has the german government been laying out for its claims. oh a german government spokesman said that there was unequivocal evidence that he was

indeed poisoned with novae chuck not only is in one of the country's leading hospitals these doctors here have a lot of experience they ran a lot of tests when he 1st arrived here last week and in different several independent labs before they concluded that he was indeed poisoned and then a special toxicology test was carried out by the german border to me and that department in the german bunds that deals with chemical weapons and so specializes on protecting civilians and the military yury with independent labs involved with the german bullets fair involved what's the kremlin been saying about the charges and the evidence well as always brian moscow turns the tables and pretends that it's not that the russians who have to explain everything now but the germans pointing out that they have all these poison it was only discovered in germany with these so one can even hear this certainly the absolute accusation that he might not have been poisoned in a russian plane but rather in the german plane on the way to believe in the russian

foreign ministry sees that the whole story is a purely political affair this reaction is also is one that might be expect the russian parliament the coals of the poisoning a provocation that could be organized by the united states to undermine the important the gas project not stream to between russia and to germany and they seem to deliberately keep quiet about the fact that the german chancellor lies exclusively on the statements of doctors and researchers all in all we've heard so far some propaganda at text aborts of the west but not a single detailed. response ok yury not only was investigating a number of different layers of a russian society oligarchs for example corrupt businessman if it wasn't the kremlin who else might have had the motivation and the means for this type of attack yes you wrote. all right alex and i've only had stu has a few opponents and maybe haters who could be

a credible perpetrator and colluding some local politicians in siberia in the us would be a risk this city was the last city that alex and ivana had visited before he was on he's playing to tom's in his investigations now vali has harshly accept even the former russian prime minister dmitry medvedev in his video titled don't call him team on the phone is to mates that $1200000000.00 us dollars was in basil to bite me tribute video the video was very popular and released 3 years ago meanwhile more than $330000000.00 views however the person who poisoned the volley didn't expect such a response from the west nobody in russia would have might saw to that he would have would be flown to berlin and be guarded like a state guest of chancellor merkel who ever could have poisoned the volley that person has obviously totally underestimated his importance in the best and ultimately the political aspect including the stronger thumb chancel him out the political aspect is taking center stage right now nina how is this likely to affect

german russian relations many here in germany have been calling for them to be improved. well potentially extremely severely it all depends on just how russia cooperates or not in the investigations americal has clearly demanded that the russian government needs to help find out who was behind it and that the people who were behind it actually have to be held accountable of course they're not naive here in berlin they've got their experience with russian authorities not cooperating in helping out to find out who was behind the mud of for example in over a chechen man who was murdered here in broad daylight in berlin a chechen citizen and actually germany expelled 2 diplomats at the time and they are still waiting for the russian authorities to help in that investigation senior politicians here from party like no but being very clear they say

a matter like this has to be decided by the kremlin there's no way around it they also say that they've got information that alex and of on here in berlin was under constant surveillance by the russian intelligence agency and they demand a much clearer response from the german government they say putin is sending out a message to all is that opponents that their life is in danger and that bloody mir putin can't get away with such an inhumane politics of intimidation on the west needs to respond and the west has respond the u.s. was very quick to back berlin on this and in spite of the difficult relationships between the 2 countries right now the u. is also backing berlin in this case is germany looking for some type of unified international action. i'm going back home made it very clear that she contacted the e.u. and nato immediately when she found out and that they are looking for a concerted response on this crime and of course the big elephant in the room is

the gas pipeline north stream too because this is a project that the german government until now still defense against all criticism from their own party even here their conservative party politicians are criticizing it you partners the americans everybody's against that gas pipeline and the america will really have to walk the walk and show the world just how serious he is when it comes to balancing political interests with economic interests yuri back in moscow what is no volleys team saying about all of these developments while the not only team has been claiming for weeks that the politician was poisoned and now they have an official confirmation that comes from their leader so that's not surprising to have all these people press spokeswoman for the volunteer i got a mission her to be it's one that's about the official reactions from russia above all from the kremlin which obviously doesn't want to know anything as she writes

and she is appalled by the reaction of the foreign ministry which sees the poisoning not as such as at the time to a human on human life but as enough a mation come paint against russia yuri thanks very much for that from moscow today and not thanks for your comments through an analysis from berlin a court in hong kong has found multimillionaire media owner and pro-democracy activist stimuli not guilty of criminal intimidation while i was charged over a confrontation with a journalist from a rival newspaper and 2017 the case is unrelated to his recent arrest for suspected collusion with foreign forces quote under a draconian new security law he also faces charges of connection with last year's beijing protests. in slovakia an influential businessman has been cleared of the murders of investigative journalist john to jack and his fiance

martina because the rover a court handed down that verdict just a short time ago in the murder case against mari and kushner contract was shot dead with his fiance at their home near brothers love and 20 team their killings led to mass protests and the resignation of civil is prime minister. let's go live now to barbara vai's will joining us from the courthouse in the slovak capital brought us lava where that verdict has been read out barbara this verdict coming no doubt is a tremendous blow not just to the victims' families but for all those people as walking hoping for real change. a tremendous blow and a total surprise because the court created quite a fusion here when it 1st declared courts guilty guilty only then to take 10 minutes to outline it was for some minor offenses and after a further 40 minutes then coming to the point and saying that for the murder of

young coot siac this murder that had been committed by a hit man who had been sort of bought to do the deed that for this murder he was not indicted he was not guilty so there was an audible gasp among service here there had been a sense of unease all morning in front of this courthouse because rumor had it that the judge should judge just not unified in their idea whether there was enough evidence to really indict father's deeds and in the end we heard it was 2 judges against one who said we don't have enough to sort of say that he is guilty for this and there was tremendous disappointment of course on the part of the parents the mother of my 2 question you have a she left the court building and cheers and just sort of waved away the waiting press and said leave me alone and for the parents of course of martin could check also this is a big blow and it is in a way

a blow for the whole country because everybody here had wanted closure and had wanted justice to be served in this case what happens now tomorrow in culture as he left the courthouse to see free to go. he's not free to go because there are concurrent cases running against him there is a fraud case so he will go back to jail but that is just meagre consolation for everybody corn cern was this case because of course they wanted a verdict they want this to be cleared up and cauchon had been smirking when the trial had started and sort of let it be known that he thought there was not enough evidence against him even though there were thousands of messages some very very clear it was regards to martin could see it like this guy is really getting too close he we need to get rid of him somehow but he didn't of course explicitly say murder him and that sort of evidence you never have an

a case like this and the circumstantial evidence the jurors here found were not enough was not enough and so yes a huge disappointment more analysis on the story as the day moves forward from a barb of a's all there in broad a slower for now barbara thanks very much. we have some football now and brazilian star neymar is likely to be missing from the start of the new french league season after catching cold that the case seems to be linked to a holiday trip to the island of a beach and several p.s.g. players took following the champions league final against fire and team mates and tell them area and leandro i rate is also now self isolating in paris both were with neymar on holiday to the us by spanish last week. schedule minor now of our top story at this hour the german government says it has unequivocal proof that from one critic alexina bawling was poisoned with a noble talk nerve agent johnson as

a scribe the incident as attempted murder insists that the kremlin has the answer of course. this is the news live from the left i'm brian thomas from the entire news team thanks for the. life on earth what kind and. coincidence. or isn't capable happened. to the bit like winning the lottery. first or you.