The death of former AC Milan youth footballer, Seid Visin has been generating a series of contradictory reports for a couple of days now. The only common aspect of most of the reports was that he committed suicide.
Before his death, the 20-year-old Ethiopian-born Italian footballer played for Atletico Vitalica, a five-a-side football team in Italy after he left the youth system of AC Milan.
Since the nature of his death has generated a lot of conflicting reports, Futballnews ran a fact check to clear the air on some of the controversies surrounding his demise.
Based on our investigation and comments by his adoptive father Walter, it has been established that he committed suicide. However, it was confirmed that he did not leave a suicide note as it was widely reported on social media and in some sections of the Italian press.
Hence, it was not established that the death of Seid Visin was associated with the racial attacks he was subjected to in Italy which was what the purported suicide note stated.
Recall that hours after it was confirmed during the weekend that Seid Visin had committed suicide, a Facebook user took to his social media post to write: “Former AC Milan youth player Seid Visin sadly took his own life due to racist abuse. He left a heart-breaking suicidal note speaking on life as an immigrant.”
As of the last check, the Facebook post which had thousands of shares had been removed either by the user of the Facebook page or by the owners of the social media platform.
The alleged note talked about how the late footballer was made to be ashamed of being black and looked upon as an immigrant instead of as an Italian due to the color of his skin.
“Now, wherever I go, wherever I am, wherever I am I feel on my shoulders, like a boulder, the weight of people’s skeptical, prejudiced, disgusted and frightened looks”, the alleged suicide note read.
Antonio Francese, the coach of the late footballer at Atletico Vitalica, said during the footballer’s funeral that Seid Visin had a “fragile heart” and a foundation would be put in place in memory of the footballer, to support people like him.
“Our team intends to keep alive the memory of Seid, of his sporting and social values, of his smile”, the coach said.
On the other hand, in an interview with La Stampa, the adoptive father of Seid Visin confirmed that he found his son hanged but there was no suicide note explaining why he decided to take his own life.
He said the suicide note that was being referred to was a letter he wrote to his friends two years ago when there was a serious clamp down on illegal immigrants in Italy by the government of the country.
“At that time, there was the blockade by the Italian government of immigrants in the middle of the sea,” he said. “This caused suffering in all of us.”
“We found our son hanged and no messages near his body. No last letter,” he added while urging people not to exploit the grief of his family for political gain.
Also, Seid Visin’s adoptive father told the ANSA news agency that there was no connection between the death of his son and the purported letter.
“My son did not kill himself because he was a victim of racism”, he insisted. “He has always been loved and well-liked, this morning the church for his funeral was packed with young people and families.
“I don’t want to talk about my son’s issues. I’m just saying he’s a wonderful man.”
