Was Liberal MP Irwin Cotler poisoned in Russia in 2006?

Liberal MP Irwin Cotler is one of 13 Canadians that have been officially barred from visiting Russia.  But that's okay with him. Indeed, he says he was poisoned by Russian authorities while visiting Russia in 2006. What's more, Mr. Cotler says that the Russian government has since acknowledged its effort to make him sick.

Mr. Cotler was visiting the country as part of a parliamentary delegation, along with NDP MP Joe Comartin. Both men ordered the same meal, but, as Mr Cotler told Carol, when they returned to the hotel the two men were in very different physical conditions.

"I was sicker than I ever had been in my life and I started to vomit blood," he said. Mr. Comartin was fine.

Mr. Cotler called reception for a doctor. The hotel sent cleaners instead: "to clean away, in effect the evidence," he suggests. Once back home, after the Canadian embassy sent its own doctor, Mr. Cotler discovered that other prominent activists also said they'd been poisoned around the same time.

And here's the kicker: declining an invitation to visit Russia in 2010, Mr. Cotler made a half-joking reference to being poisoned. He says that the embassy's responded: 'Sorry about that. It was a mistake. It won't happen again."

Mr Cotler believes he was the target of the poisoning because of his efforts to highlight the plight of political prisoners in Russia at the time.

Listen to Irwin Cotler's interview with Carol by clicking the link above.