The lifeless body found last Wednesday in Antwerp's Stadspark has been identified as a 26-year-old Palestinian man.
The man was found by a passerby in the evening of Wednesday 21 August in a grassy area of the Antwerp park, in the heart of the port city.
The victim’s hands and feet were tied, pushing investigators to treat the death as murder, although the cause of death remains unclear.
"The autopsy did not clarify the cause of death, so all leads remain open," said the Antwerp Public Prosecutor's Office spokesperson Kristof Aerts on Friday. This does not exclude a death-by-suicide hypothesis.
After the body was found, the police cordoned off the part of the park near a former war bunker. According to reports in the Flemish media, the body had been in the park for over 24 hours.
No ID documents were found on him, with some reports suggesting he was not a Belgian resident but a refugee seeking asylum. He had also not been previously reported missing to police.
The Antwerp Public Prosecutor's Office has appointed an examining magistrate for murder, but played down the various theories circulating on the internet about the case.
"I understand that there are a lot of wild stories going around on social media... a judicial investigation was started, with the investigating judge, public prosecutor, lab, forensic doctor and investigators on site. This showed that several tracks are possible," Aerts told The Brussels Times on Wednesday.
Investigation continues
On Thursday morning, the Antwerp Public Prosecutor's Office provided a new update, stating that investigators do not believe that this incident was murder following the findings from the autopsy and the crime scene analysis.
"It does not appear at this stage of the investigation, that there was any criminal intent or third-party intervention," the prosecutor stated. "The investigation continues."
