Algeria discounts Ebosse murder theory

Claims that Cameroonian footballer Albert Ebosse could have been killed in a dressing room attack were dismissed by Algeria on Tuesday.

The idea of a “premeditated act” could be ruled out, sports minister Mohammad Tahmi said.

Ebosse, 25, died on August 23 after his club JS Kabylie lost 2-1 at home to USM Algiers.

The official Algerian version holds that Ebosse died in hospital from head injuries sustained as he left the pitch under a hail of objects thrown from the stands by angry fans.

He was apparently struck on the head by a sharp projectile, the official report said.

But a second autopsy by a Cameroonian pathologist, carried out at the family’s request, refuted the official findings and declared that the player had died as the result of a brutal post-match beating, probably in a dressing room attack.

“We are in possession of a report which points to involuntary homicide. All the players present that day were targeted by missiles. The hypothesis of a premeditated act is therefore to be discounted,” the minister, himself a doctor, told Algerian radio. “The matter is currently in the hands of the courts, who will apportion blame.”