A remand prisoner has been found dead inside his cell at the high-security Belmarsh Prison, with his family contesting views that the death was self-inflicted.

Liridon Saliuka, 29, was reportedly found unresponsive in his prison cell on the evening of January 2, following on from a dispute over whether he should have been classified as disabled.

It is understood that authorities are treating his death as self-inflicted, but his family and friends strongly dispute this and are urging a post-mortem to take place.

Mr Saliuka was born in Kosovo and held a British passport, living in the borough of Harrow until he was arrested and imprisoned on remand in Belmarsh Prison in south east London last summer.

The 29-year-old was charged with murder in connection with the snooker club shooting of a barbershop worker from Stratford, and was in the notorious prison awaiting trial in June 2020.

Saliuka's family claim there have been delays to the postmortem, and on Wednesday, Harrow MP Gareth Thomas raised the case in Parliament "in the hope of providing clarity for his family through a post-mortem which I hope commences soon."

In a tweet, his sister, Dita, said that everyone at Belmarsh "is talking about my brother's death due to an altercation with prison guards in his cell" as she urged authorities to investigate the death.

The Prison Service has confirmed that Saliuka had died, and the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman is investigating.

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In a post on GoFundMe, Gino Zymberi, a friend of Saliuka, said that he had been involved in a serious car accident two years ago which had left him with life-changing injuries and should have been classed under the Equality Act as permanently disabled.

At Belmarsh, Saliuka was initially placed in a special cell but was recently transferred to a standard cell.

Mr Zymberi said that they awaited an autopsy to see if the cause of death was self-inflicted as authorities claim, but that "anyone who knew Liridon would know how much he was dedicated to clearing his name, and getting back to living his life and making up for the time lost in which he had spent on remand."

"We are questioning what we are being told surrounding Liridon’s death, and in a time of darkness, we are still trying to navigate through the pain and seek answers."

Selen Cavcav, senior caseworker at Inquest, an organisation supporting relatives at coroner’s courts, told the Guardian: “Liridon’s death is of significant concern. It is vital that it receives the upmost scrutiny.

"His family must be allowed to meaningfully participate in the investigation processes and establish the truth about the circumstances of his death.”

On January, Dita Saliuka tweeted that an autopsy was now confirmed for Monday with a forensic pathologist and that they were finally allowed access to the body.