The oligarch was found dead on his bathroom floor in March last year

She told of suspicions he was a 'target' for political opponents

He claimed the killer re-arranged the scene to make it look like a suicide

Says there is not enough evidence to determine whether the Russian businessman was unlawfully killed or committed suicide

Coroner records an open verdict at the inquest in Windsor Guildhall

The daughter of exiled Russian oligarch Boris Berezovsky said her father was an assassination target for saying that President Vladimir Putin was ‘a danger to the whole world’.

Elizaveta Berezovskaya told an inquest into her father’s death yesterday that she feared he was poisoned.

The 67-year-old businessman – who had survived at least two assassination attempts – was found in the bathroom of a £20million Berkshire mansion in March last year with injuries police described as being ‘consistent with hanging’.



Claim: Boris Berezovsky, left, was killed by someone else and did not hang himself, according to Professor Bernd Brinkman, right



But yesterday a coroner said there was not enough evidence to prove ‘beyond all reasonable doubt’ whether Mr Berezovsky had taken his own life or been unlawfully killed, so he recorded an open verdict.

The two-day inquest at Windsor Guildhall heard how the once powerful and wealthy tycoon suffered a ‘fall from grace’ after losing a £3billion High Court case against former business partner Roman Abramovich, the owner of Chelsea Football Club.

The father of six was reduced to living as a guest in the Ascot home of his ex-wife and had become severely depressed as he struggled with £200million debts.

Miss Berezovskaya, 43, said there were a lot of people who wanted her father dead.

Furthermore, eminent forensic pathologist Professor Bernd Brinkmann said he believed Mr Berezovsky had been murdered.

Miss Berezovskaya said: ‘I can think of many people who would be interested in my father’s death.’

Evidence: The oligarch's daughter Elizaveta, pictured right with her sister Ekatrina, told an inquest she thought her father might have been poisoned When asked by Berkshire coroner Peter Bedford if she knew who these people were, she replied: ‘Yes. I think we all know.’ She said her father was an outspoken critic of the Russian president and had predicted the current crisis in the Ukraine. ‘My father was saying Putin was a danger to the whole world and we can see that now,’ she added. ‘My father was saying [Barack] Obama does not understand how Ukraine is important. He was the first person saying it. For 14 years he’s been saying that.’ However, Mr Bedford said the last known assassination attempt was in 2007 and asked why he would have been a target at the time of his death as he had ceased to be politically active because of his depression. But Miss Berezovskaya, an artist, said that just because her father had lost all interest in politics in the six months before his death, it did not mean he stopped being a target. She said: ‘He was a target, always. Because he could recover. I think my father was a very serious political figure.’ Such was the change in her father’s personality in the months before his death, Miss Berezovskaya initially feared he had been poisoned.

Scene: Mr Berezovsky was found dead at his home in Ascot, Berkshire in March last year

She said: ‘Something strange was happening to him. ‘It was like there was a chemical reaction inside of him. I thought then straight away that he could have been poisoned. ’ She said she had many doubts over whether her father would have committed suicide. ‘Looking at all the evidence, I found I had more and more questions and of course I want to find the truth,’ she said. She added that her father believed suicide to be ‘immoral’ and contrary to his faith as a Russian Orthodox Christian. Professor Brinkmann, 74, gave evidence to say that he believed Mr Berezovsky to have been strangled by a ‘third party’. He said the strangulation marks around the neck were inconsistent with suspension, as they were too horizontal, and the purple face of Mr Berezovsky was something he had ‘never seen before’ in a suicide by hanging.

Defeat: Mr Berezovsky lost at £3billion court battle against Chelsea's owner Roman Abramovich The German academic, who has been hired by the Berezovsky family to produce a report, is famous for proving that ‘God’s banker’ Roberto Calvi was murdered underneath London’s Blackfriars Bridge in 1982 and did not commit suicide as previously thought. But Home Office pathologist Dr Simon Poole, who examined the body, said that in his opinion, Mr Berezovsky had hanged himself. The inquest also heard about an unknown fingerprint found on the shower rail in the room where his body was discovered. Mr Berezovsky fled Russia after falling out with Mr Putin, gaining asylum in the UK in 2003. He was an associate of KGB spy-turned-dissident Alexander Litvinenko, who died from radioactive polonium-210 poisoning in November 2006.