Judicial Post Mortem: Zygier Tranquilized Before Death, Body Bruised
While the judge finds that Zygier killed himself by attaching a sheet to a bar of his bathroom window, she also notes that trace amounts of a tranquilizer were found in his blood (keep in mind that he would not have been tested until hours after his death, since the security services tramped through the crime scene without allowing any other police or prison personnel to enter) along with bruises on his body. She finds that neither the tranquilizers nor bruises contributed to his death. What she really means is that they didn’t cause his death, which is of course the truth. But were they part of a larger plan to kill him? We must remember that Mahmoud al-Mabouh was murdered in a very similar fashion. He was administered a tranquilizer then smothered with a pillow. If there was a murderer, he couldn’t very well use the same method since smothering would be too suspicious. Suicide would be far more persuasive.

MK Uri Ariel disbelieves official account of Zygier suicide

The judge concedes the possibility of foul play:

“Though the deceased was found hanged in the bathroom of the cell, this does not negate the theoretical possibility of active intervention on the part of another person who intentionally caused his death in this way.” 

I also note that MK Uri Ariel, one of the most extreme right-wing members of Knesset, and who has no love lost with the security services, reported yesterday that he didn’t believe the prisoner committed suicide.The most disturbing aspect of these findings (or tranquilizer traces and bruising) is there is no explanation for how they occurred. The judge does not explain how Zygier got a tranquilizer. Was he prescribed one? By whom? If he was not prescribed one, how did it enter his body? The judge says she cannot determine whether the bruises on his body were caused before or after death. This is but one important question to answer. What caused the bruises? An instrument? Another person? The movement of the body during the act of suicide? A forensic pathologist who wants to do so can answer many of these questions. Either these questions are answered in the 18 pages the judge maintained under gag or they aren’t answered at all.

[ed notes:click link for whole article..