PROSECUTORS INVESTIGATING ROME PRISON DEATH

PROSECUTORS INVESTIGATING ROME PRISON DEATH

(ANSA) - Rome, October 30 - Rome prosecutors on Friday announced that they had opened a formal investigation into a man who died of injuries after eight days in police custody.

Stefano Cucchi, 31, was arrested on October 16 for drugs possession and died last Friday in a prison infirmary.

Cucchi's parents said he was in perfectly good health the day he was arrested, but appeared at a court hearing the next day with black eyes and his face covered with bruises.

After his death, his family circulated pictures of his body depicting his battered face and bruises on his body.

Both the Carabinieri police who arrested Cucchi and the prison guards at Regina Coeli jail where he was detained deny any part in his death.

After a week of cross-party calls for an investigation, Rome prosecutors, who have already spoken to a number of witnesses, said they were looking into charges of involuntary manslaughter.

Though Cucchi is presumed to have died from his injuries, which reportedly include two broken vertebrae and damaged internal organs, police are still waiting for an autopsy to rule on the official cause of death. Photo: images of Cucchi's injuries