The 63-year-old man who died in the central prison on Friday choked on his food, according to the results of an autopsy carried out on Saturday.

The autopsy was carried out by forensic pathologist Nicolas Charalambous, who concluded that the man had died of “asphyxiation as a result of obstruction of the respiratory tract by food”.

A member of the prison’s staff had found the man exhibiting no vital signs in his cell at 3.55pm on Friday, with the man then taken to the Nicosia general hospital’s accident and emergency unit, where he was pronounced dead.

The man’s family has been informed.