Denver – A local politician’s death has been ruled a suicide after an in-depth investigation launched earlier this month.
After weeks of investigation, Morocco’s Public Prosecutor’s Office publicly announced local investigators “concluded that the deceased committed suicide,” citing the cause of death as a gunshot wound to his abdomen. Belfaqih was a political official in the Guelmim-Oued Noun in southern-central Morocco. Belfaqih, who joined the Authenticity and Modernity Party (PAM) last July, was in the running for local elections earlier this month.
Following a request from PAM leader Abdellatif Wahbi for the Ministry of Interior to remove Belfaqih’s name as the party’s candidate in the region, he abruptly ended his political campaign. Belfaqih reportedly labeled PAM’s actions as “a great treachery,” and announced his retirement from politics shortly before his death.
Police were called to Belfaqih’s residence early Wednesday morning after reports of a gunshot. Upon entering, they transported the wounded Belfaqih to a local hospital, where he later succumbed to his injuries.
In the Public Prosecutor’s investigative report, family members that arrived after the shot found Belfaqih “was still alive when they entered his room and that he asked them not to take him to the hospital and leave him at his home.” Security officers guarding Belfaqih’s residence also reported not seeing strangers or suspicious individuals enter the residence the night of Belfaqih’s death.
While investigators conducted preliminary investigations to determine whether Belfaqih was the victim of a murder, they tested forensic evidence from Belfaqih’s clothes, DNA, and a hunting rifle that was found near his body.
Law enforcement stated after the findings that “the death was not the result of a criminal act,” after fingerprints from the weapon, ballistic evidence from the bullet wound, and traces of blood at the scene were all found to be a match for Belfaqih. In light of the findings, the investigations into Belfaqih’s death have been effectively concluded.
