A Swedish diplomat, arrested on suspicion of espionage last week and released a few days later, he was found dead during the night from Thursday to Friday, according to media and the Swedish government.

“We can sadly confirm that a foreign ministry colleague has died. Out of respect for his relatives, we will not go into further details,” Sweden’s foreign ministry said in a message to AFP.

Swedish media said it was the Swedish diplomat who was suspected of espionage. He had raised suspicions about his actions in Stockholm between May 1 and May 11.

The Swedish Security Service (Säpo) – the country’s intelligence agencies – is investigating a possible link between this case and the scandal that led to the recent resignation of Sweden’s new national security adviser, according to several Swedish media outlets, including the public television network SVT. On 8 May, 49-year-old Tobias Tiberg resigned only 12 hours after his appointment, after the media and government were sent “sensitive content” photos of him from the dating app Grindr.

In a communication with AFP on Wednesday, the lawyer for the diplomat under suspicion, Anton Strand, had said his client had denied all allegations of espionage. He also said his client had gone to the hospital after being released on Wednesday and had complained of excessive use of force by police in his arrest.

She was surrounded by “strange circumstances,” Strad also noted to Swedish news agency TT: The officers shouted in other languages rather than Swedish, were not in uniform, and did not introduce themselves as police until after they had put the suspect in a car. Säpo had announced for its part on Monday that “the operation was conducted calmly.”