Another suicide in Majorca on day of protest

His body was found by his son inside the property at 11am yesterday morning. The 68-year-old Frenchman was found with a bag over his head and note next to his body explaining why he had taken his life.

The Guardia Civil and forensics combed the property and found no incriminating or suspicious evidence to suggest foul play was involved.
The French businessman's body has been transferred to the morgue in Palma where the autopsy will be carried out but all the signs suggest that he suffocated himself with the bag.

This has been a tragic week for Majorca and Spain and came just days after a retired couple overdosed on prescription medications rather than be forced to leave their home in Cas Catala.

Also earlier in the week, a 56-year-old man living in the Basque town of Basauri Vizcaya killed himself after falling behind on his payments.
And, on February 13, a 46-year-old man also facing eviction hung himself in Alicante - the fourth eviction-motivated suicide in Spain since Monday until yesterday.

These suicides are part of a much larger trend in a country stricken by its own housing crisis, which began in 2008. “Between December 2011 and March or April 2012, the number of suicides presumably linked to economic problems has increased significantly,” a Spanish forensic investigator said yesterday.

The government this week decided to review the bill, which would change the law to end evictions altogether and erase debts owed by struggling homeowners who agreed to give up their homes.

But, angry protesters gathered in Palma last night to complain that evictions are continuing and that the government is reacting too slowly.
Over 350'000 Spaniards have received eviction notices since the housing bubble popped five years ago.