Bystander suspected in fatal Maastricht arrest

A 28-year-old man from the Maastricht region is a suspected of manslaughter in the fatal arrest of Macedonian man Bekim Hasani in December last year, lawyer Peer Szymkowiak confirmed to several media sources on Thursday. The man helped a police officer, a police officer in civilian clothes and a member of the Marechaussee in overpowering Hasani in a shopping center in Maastricht, AD reports.

Other bystanders also got involved in the struggle. Hasani died shortly thereafter. According to the lawyer, Hasani lost it when a member of the Marechaussee - a policing force that works as part of the Dutch military - asked him for his papers. He was a failed asylum seeker and recently told shortly before his death that he had to leave the EU within 28 days.

The lawyer stated that his client, the 28-year-old suspect, turned himself in at a police station voluntarily on Tuesday. He was not arrested. The Public Prosecutor would make no comments on this case, according to AD.

Earlier this month Hasani's widow pressed charges against the police.