MONTREAL -- Former Canadian ambassador to Moscow John Watkins died 17 years ago of natural causes unrelated to the intensive police questioning he was undergoing at the time, a Quebec coroner found Wednesday.
The death of Watkins, a career diplomat who served as ambassador to Moscow during the 1950s, was investigated last September at a five-day inquest ordered by Quebec Justice Minister Marc-Andre Bedard.
Bedard.
Coroner Stanislas Dery was appointed to determine whether Watkins' death in October, 1964 was related to months of intensive questioning he had been subjected to by the Mounties.
Watkins, a diabetic in failinghealth, died in a Montreal hotel room in the presence of RCMP officers Henry Brandes and Leslie James Bennett. He was being questioned about reports by two Russian defectors that he had been blackmailed by Soviet intelligence agents after being exposed as a homosexual.
Twenty-one witnesses testified at the inquest. Many were police officers and their testimony was frequently contradictory.
In his ruling, Dery exonerated the RCMP of any fault in Watkins' death and thanked the Mounties for their help during the inquest. Dery said his only recommendation in a formal report would likely deal with the role of the coroner's office in its report on Watkin's death.
It was disclosed during the inquiry that the coroner's report concluding Watkin's death was by natural causes had been written without any examination of the body.
One of the final witnesses, a doctor who had seen Watkins days before his death, testified he knew Watkins was in failing health. 'It came as no surprise to me to learn of his death,' Alec Capon told the inquest.
