Norwegian officials have supported the conclusion of authorities in Congo that the Norwegian prisoner who was found dead in his cell last week, Tjostolv Moland, had committed suicide. That cleared his cellmate and fellow Norwegian, Joshua French, of any suspicion that he played a role in Moland’s death.
French, 31, was told on Wednesday that he no longer was a suspect in the case after a coroner’s report was presented on the basis of an autopsy to which Norwegian medical examiners had contributed as well.
The leader of the investigation into Moland’s death, General Tim Mukutu, said at a press conference in Kinshasa, Congo that some results of the autopsy hadn’t been analyzed yet, but the “conclusion was clear,” that Moland took his own life.
Moland and French had shared a cell in Congo prisons for the past four years, after they were arrested and later convicted of the murder of their taxi driver in 2009.
News bureau NTB reported that Norwegian authorities were still working on efforts to fly Moland’s body back to Norway, and to arrange for French to either serve his prison term in Norway or be pardoned.
newsinenglish.no staff
