During proceedings of an inquest on Russian oligarch Boris Berezovsky, witnesses have said that the former multibillionaire was depressed following the losing of his court case against Chelsea Football Club owner Roman Abramovich back in 2012. Berezovsky was found dead in his London mansion just over a year ago and was then 67 years-old, Bloomberg said in a report.
The Russian was not able to win one of the largest civil lawsuits filed against Abramovich in the UK. A judge who presided in thr ruling of Berezovsky's case last year have said that the Russian presented himself in his court to be an unimpressive and inherently unreliable witness. An adviser of Berezovsky, Michael Cotlick, told the inquest that Berezovsky had taken the loss of the case very personally and had been offered a loan from a Russian colleague to help him tide over. Avi Navama, Berezovsky's personal bodyguard who was the first to discovered his boss' body, also told the inquest that his former boss complained incessantly about his money problems and had difficulty paying about 200 million pounds or $331 million to his creditors.
British police have ruled out foul play in Berezovsky's death following an initial autopsy, Bloomberg said. Berezovsky, who is known to be a staunch critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin because of his close ties with Boris Yeltsin, died from hanging on March 23, with no visible signs of a violent struggle.
The news agency said that inquests that are being held in Wales and England are done to rule out any signs of foul play on sudden or unexplained deaths. The inquests, which are presided by coroners, could rule out a limited number of verdicts, which could be death by accident, suicide, or unlawful killing. If a death could not be explained during the inquest or if evidence is insufficient to prove the causality of the death, coroners reportedly record an open verdict.
