An investigation has been opened into the possibility that Fiorentina captain Davide Astori was the victim of manslaughter,
after he was found dead at the team’s hotel in Udine on Sunday morning. The player’s autopsy has been scheduled for Tuesday, and the city’s lead prosecutor, Antonio De Nicolo, made it plain that the cause of death had not yet been ascertained.
During an interview with Radio Rai, De Nicolo stated: “We have opened criminal proceedings with a hypothesis of manslaughter. For now, the charge is made against unknown persons and we have arranged the autopsy to take place shortly.”
Speaking later to the news agency Ansa, De Nicolo portrayed the move as standard procedure. “It is our duty to ascertain whether the death of Astori was a tragic act of fate or if someone should have known something,” said De Nicolo. “At this moment in time, there is no individual with responsibilities that appear to correspond to anything [in this case].
“The launching of this judicial process will allow us to identify if any responsibility does exist among those people who looked after him.”