Did the European Union lawmaker Michèle Rivasi die because of her role in the investigation connected to the European Commission president and Pfizer? No, that's not true: The French politician and environmental activist died due to a heart attack, according to information published on Rivasi's website and her official social media accounts.
The claim appeared in a video on TikTok (archived here) published by @fidanovapeta on December 5, 2023. The text overlay (translated from Bulgarian to English by Lead Stories staff) read:
If you want to investigate Ursula von der Leyen, expect to have a heart attack.
This is what the post looked like on TikTok at the time of writing:
(Source: TikTok screenshot taken on Wed Dec 6 09:26:17 2023 UTC)
The text shown in the post is from a December 5, 2023, Bulgarian online media report on Member of the European Parliament Michèle Rivasi's death, which includes information about its cause. The information in the article shown in the video in no way supports the caption's claim that her death is related to her work investigating text message exchanges between the European Commission and Pfizer.
Information published in Rivasi's social media profiles and personal website, seen here, here and here, say she died of a heart attack at age 70 on November 29, 2023. They included the message:
It is with deep sadness that we announce the passing of Michèle Rivasi, member of the European Parliament, this morning, Wednesday, November 29, 2023, following a heart attack. Mrs. Rivasi was promptly taken to the hospital in Brussels.
There are no reports to suggest the cause of death was suspicious or that she may have died as a result of anything other than heart failure. The full text in English can be seen here.
Rivasi did take part in investigating the so-called "SMS affair" surrounding text messages exchanged between European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla concerning vaccine contract negotiations for the European Union. The investigation and Rivasi's death were both reported by numerous sources, and none presented a link between the two
