Another Putin Critic in Peril

What's the quickest way to make yourself sick these days? If licking a doorknob fails, try criticizing Vladimir Putin. Russia's leading human rights lawyer and dissident, Karinna Moskalenko, recently began suffering a series of weird symptoms—headaches, giddiness, and nausea. When her husband investigated, he discovered large quantities of mercury stashed beneath her car seat. Moskalenko was supposed to attend the trial of three men accused of murdering Anna Politkovskaya, the Russian journalist who was an outspoken critic of Putin. Police in Strasbourg are investigating the matter and refuse to say whether a crime has been committed, but given Putin's penchant for poisoning his critics, it certainly begs the questioning.