Karl Muscat, the prosecutor from the Attorney General's office who was found dead in his residence in Swieqi on Wednesday, died from cardio respiratory failure, the police said in a statement on Thursday.
On Wednesday, the police received a call requesting assistance at a residence on Triq is-Sirk in Swieqi at around 12.45pm. Muscat was found unconscious in one of the rooms and when the medical team arrived on site they tried to revive the man, however he was pronounced dead. Police officers from the Major Crimes unit as well as the District Police had gone on site.
Originally, reports read that the residence had been turned upside down, however a police spokesperson had said that this did not appear to be the case. The police had said that it didn't appear that any third parties were involved in the man's death, however nothing had been excluded.
An autopsy has since been carried out on Muscat.
"From the autopsy it resulted that the body had no signs of violence on it or any other signs of injuries which could indicate that he defended himself from any aggression. It also resulted that the victim died because of a cardio respiratory failure. Police investigations and the Magisterial Inquiry are still ongoing," a statement by the police read.
On Wednesday after the news of Muscat's passing broke, Justice Minister Jonathan Attard said in a short post on Facebook that he was shocked by Muscat's death, and offered his condolences to the lawyer's relatives. In a post on Facebook, Opposition Leader Bernard Grech paid tribute to Muscat, who was a PN councillor for some years.
Muscat was praised by a magistrate in March for his dedication in proceedings against Yorgen Fenech and Vince Buhagiar - former Progress Press director, when he was attending sittings instead of colleagues of his who were on strike.
Muscat was also working on the case against former More Supermarkets Owner Ryan Schembri and was also representing the AG's office in proceedings against Christian Borg and five others who are accused of kidnapping.