Belgian man detained for burying dead friend in his yard

No foul play is suspected, and the Belgian man was released on bail later on Thursday.

By JONAH MANDEL
A Belgian living in Even Sapir was detained for police questioning Thursday on suspicion that he buried a dead friend in his yard without a permit some 10 years ago.
Police and Zaka rescue and recovery organization volunteers exhumed a skeleton from the suspect’s property, and transferred it to the L. Greenberg Forensic Institute at Abu Kabir for examination.
No foul play is suspected, and the Belgian man was released on bail later on Thursday.
The investigation began after Jerusalem police received an anonymous letter saying that a resident of Even Sapir, a moshav adjacent to Jerusalem, had buried a man in the locale. Investigators launched an intensive probe and reached the foreign national in his 60s.
Police announced that the suspect is Christian, but he himself does not define himself Christian per se, and has no connection to the St. John in the Desert Monastery which is located in Even Sapir.
The suspect, whose residential status is undefined, told police that he and two other friends arrived in Israel 20 years ago.
One of them, an alcoholic, was hospitalized in the nearby Hadassah University Hospital at Ein Kerem, and died there about 10 years ago. At the deceased’s behest, according to the suspect, he was buried in his friend’s yard.