((HT: Montreal Gazette/Mike De Souza))
The Harper government is calling on Brazilian authorities to shed light on the mystery surrounding the death of Montreal boxer Arturo Gatti ((pictured, thanks Teddy Blackburn/Reuters/Montreal Gazette file)).
With the Quebec coroner’s office agreeing to conduct a second autopsy on the body of the former world champion boxer this weekend, Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon said on Friday that he has also asked his department to look into the matter.
“Today, I have asked officials at the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada to formally seek more information from Brazilian authorities concerning the events surrounding the death, on July 11, 2009, in Brazil, of M. Arturo Gatti, a Canadian citizen,” Cannon said in a statement.
“The government of Canada is seeking more information on the investigation into the death of its citizen, and on the findings of the investigation.”
Cannon said that the government would continue to provide consular assistance to the family in the meantime.
“Our thoughts are with Mr. Gatti’s family during these difficult times,” he said.
After detaining the boxer’s wife for three weeks as a suspect in what they initially described as a homicide, Brazilian police released Amanda Rodrigues, 23, on Thursday.
A lead investigator in the case said that Gatti, 37, had committed suicide, but his family and friends in Montreal are not convinced that the boxer took his own life.
Jeremy Filosa, a Gatti childhood friend, said that the family is very encouraged by Cannon’s decision.
“This is what they wanted the whole time. They were crying out for the government to get involved in this case,” Filosa told Canwest News Service on Friday. “They still have a lot of suspicions and think some of the stuff doesn’t make any sense according to what Brazilian police are stating.”
He said the family has also hired a pathologist, well-known in the world of Hollywood, who will be flown to Montreal over the weekend as an observer to the autopsy.
Genevieve Guilbault, a spokeswoman from the coroner’s office, said the examination by two licensed pathologists from Montreal would begin on Saturday morning. She said the official results would be released in a coroner’s report at the end of the investigation which could take a few months.
Bernard Barre, a family friend who once trained the boxer, also welcomed the government’s announcement.
“We’re really talking about a sports hero for all of Canada,” Barre said. “It’s completely normal that the government is pushing further in this situation which is becoming more ambiguous with contradictory results, so I’m happy to know that someone in the government is getting involved.”
A spokeswoman for Cannon said the minister was not available for an interview to comment further since the file was under review.
“We are closely following the developments,” wrote Cannon’s director of communications, Catherine Loubier, in an e-mail.
In a phone interview given after she was released from jail, Rodrigues speculated that Gatti may have killed himself because he was afraid she would leave him after the two had a violent disagreement on the night before his death.
Meantime, Brazilian police have released new details about their investigation, explaining that Gatti was hanged with a bag strap from a wooden staircase column more than two metres off the ground, the Associated Press reported.
A police spokeswoman from the northeastern city of Recife told the news agency that investigators originally thought he had been strangled because his body was found on the floor.
The original autopsy indicated that Gatti was hanging from the column for about three hours, police said.
Gatti’s 11-month-old son remains in Brazil, where he is being cared for by Rodrigues’ family.
Gatti, who was born in Italy and raised in Montreal, turned professional at the age of 19 and went on to win two world boxing titles before retiring in 2007 with a record of 40-9.
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