Christopher Rochester’s family from Durham, UK, have asked a Brussels court to help them with the clarification of their son’s death 11 years ago in Rhodes island, in the southeast of Greece.
The young man (24) had died from a balcony fall during his holidays in Rhodes but was missing a kidney when his body was transferred to the UK.
However, Greek and UK authorities’ cooperation came to a dead end over whether the organ sent later belonged to the victim or not. Finally, the exhumation of Rochester’s body was ordered by the Greek authorities, so as for independent DNA tests to be run in a Brussels laboratory.
Yet the DNA results cannot be released because Greek authorities have delayed the sending of vital records. Therefore, the family must now file an appeal to the Belgian court to proceed with the release of the data.
“Because the Greeks initiated all this and there are now delays involving information from them, we have to go to a magistrate if we want to see the results” said Christopher’s stepfather George Cummings.
According to BBC News, Rochester’s body has been reburied but the Greek Embassy in London was not available for any comment.
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