ROME - The former Christian Democrat councillor of Turin, Alberto Musy, died on Tuesday night in a Piedmont hospital after spending 19 months in a coma.

 

The former councillor had been shot six times in a 2012 attack, when a man wearing a motorcycle helmet attacked him outside of his Turin home in via Barbaroux. The gunshot wounds caused a large hematoma on the right side of Signor Musy's skull, which has been attributed to the cause of his irreversible coma.

 

Local closed-circuit cameras had captured the attack, and after an investigation police were able to identify the assailant as Francesco Furchì. 

 

When Signor Furchì, who has continued to proclaim his innocence, was informed of the news, he responded with a long silence. Signor Furchì is currently serving time in prison for the crime and had been expected back in court on Wednesday for another trial in the case. The case had initially been on charges of assault, however the family's lawyer Gianpaolo Zancan has said that with the death of Signor Musy, "the charge now becomes premeditated wilful murder." Signor Zancan has said that the crime is now punishable by life imprisonment.

 

The mayor of Turin, Piero Fassino, remembered Signor Musy in a speech on Wednesday. He stated that "grief is renewed for the many people who knew, respected, and admired Alberto." He concluded that Signor Musy was "a man who loved Turin" and that his death intensifies the "dismay and shock" of the story.

 

Alberto Musy leaves behind his wife and four children, aged three to 13.