Investigators initially believed it was an overdose. A 43-year-old man was found dead in an apartment on February 10 in the Italian town of Salasa, about forty kilometers from the French border. A month later, the mysterious death was revealed to be a homicide, Italian press agency Ansa reported this Saturday, March 23.
According to autopsy results, the forty-year-old actually suffocated during an Islamic exorcism session led by his uncle. The latter was arrested and detained, as was the victim’s brother. His ex-wife was also arrested and placed under house arrest.
Some exorcism sessions
Before his death, the man, who his relatives believed to be possessed by a demon, had already undergone at least two exorcism sessions, one of which required him to be hospitalized. According to Ansa, the victim’s uncle would be an important figure in the Muslim community of the neighboring town of Kuorni.
In February, near Palermo on the Italian island of Sicily, a man confessed to killing his wife and two children during an exorcism session, telling investigators he wanted to “rid them of the demon.”
Original article published on BFMTV.com
