Autopsy on Coptic Christian monk shows signs of poisoning
28 September 2018
An autopsy on a Coptic Christian monk found dead in central Egypt shows signs of poisoning, officials say.
Zeinoun
al-Maqari was one of six monks banished from a desert monastery after
its abbot was found dead in a pool of blood in July.
The latest death came a day before the monk was scheduled to testify in the trial of two others charged with killing the abbot.
It is unclear whether he was poisoned by someone else or took his own life.
Wael
al-Saad and Remon Rasmi Mansour were charged with the murder of Bishop
Epiphanius at St Macarius Monastery in Egypt's Western Desert on 29
July.
The monks are accused of killing the cleric because they had "differences".
Zeinoun al-Maquari had served as a confessional priest for one of the two, Reuters news agency reports.
The case has shocked Egypt's Coptic Church, the largest Christian community in the Middle East.
One
of the monks, Wael al-Saad, confessed to bludgeoning the bishop over
the head with a 90cm (35in) steel pipe while his associate stood guard,
according to the Egyptian attorney general's office.
He was expelled from the Church after the murder.
Egyptian prosecutors said the monk had had tensions
with his superiors, and had been investigated for breaching monastic
traditions.
The other suspect, Ramon Rasmi Mansour, threw himself
from the monastery roof in September and has been treated in a Cairo
hospital, according to Reuters.
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