Stefano Cucchi -- "sudden unexpected death due to epilepsy"

 ROME – Experts investigating the case of Stefano Cucchi, the Roman surveyor who suspiciously died in police custody following his arrest for possession of drugs back in 2009, claim the cause of death was in fact most probably “due to epilepsy”, Tuesday.

 Medical experts of the inquiry suggest Cucchi suffered “a sudden and unexpected death due to epilepsy”, claiming that the injuries sustained immediately after his arrest “cannot be considered” directly linked to his death.

 Over the years, the media has followed a long series of appeals and acquittals surrounding the case, as doctors, nurses, prison agents at the Regina Coeli prison and members of the Carabinieri have been suspected of manslaughter. Still no one has been held accountable.

 However, new evidence proposes “the injuries sustained by Stefano Cucchi after Oct. 15, 2009 cannot be considered as related, directly or indirectly, with the event of the death.” Experts have put forward two hypotheses -- “an unexpected death due to epilepsy” or “due to a trauma fracture” of a vertebra. Medical specialists report that the first hypothesis seems the most probable and reliable answer to the mysterious death.

  The epilepsy could have been aggravated by Cucchi’s “long-standing drug addiction”, possibly explaining his dehydrated and malnourished state.

 Although the legal teams of the Carabinieri policemen under suspicion of manslaughter are contented by such an evaluation, Ilaria Cucchi, the sister of the victim, is not. She is insistent that the fractures and injuries of her brother were the cause of death, claiming, “unlike with the epilepsy theory, these injuries have objective elements … the only objective scientific evidence that the findings show is that of the dual fractures of the spinal column and gall bladder which stopped the heart … With expert opinion like this we now know, finally, that we have a large chance of seeing an investigation for manslaughter.”

 sw