Story highlights Ashe died of injuries while lifting a barbell

He was facing trial in a bribery scandal from his time at the U.N.

(CNN) John Ashe, the former president of the United Nations General Assembly in 2013 and 2014, died Wednesday while awaiting trial in a bribery scandal, police said.

Ashe, 61, died of injuries while lifting a barbell on a bench, the Westchester, New York, medical examiner's office told CNN Thursday.

Earlier U.N. spokesman Dan Thomas told CNN that Ashe died of a heart attack. He now tells CNN that the information came from a newspaper report in Antiqua, as well as, a former colleague of Ashe's. The medical examiner clarified Ashe died from traumatic asphyxia and suffered laryngeal fractures while lifting.

The completed autopsy report will not be available for approximately 16 weeks when standard tests are complete.

"Despite the many as yet unproven accusations made against him, Mr. Ashe was for many years a hard-working and popular member of the diplomatic corps in New York and at the United Nations," current U.N. General Assembly President Mogens Lykketoft said in a statement. "I know that his death will come as sad news to the many professional friends and colleagues he made during his time here."

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