In the Netherlands, the Public Prosecutor has instructed the Cooperative Last Will association, indicted last week for illegally assisting suicide (see the Netherlands: criminal investigation against an association offering a lethal powder), to “cease its activities with immediate effect”. Minister Hugo de Jonge described the activities of Cooperative Last Will as “an undesirable project that borders on irresponsibility and which is potentially reprehensible” and pledged to have a “persuasive conservation” with the organisation.
Ximena, a 19 year-old girl, committed suicide after ordering powder on-line from the purchasing group. This led to the indictment of the association. Cooperative Last Will has just announced that it will abandon its project in the Netherlands to protect its members from prosecution. It has also cancelled a meeting scheduled to unite the association’s 1,100 registered members who could then purchase the powder after the meeting. The current criminal investigation is directed against Cooperative Last Will but also against the persons appointed by them to distribute the lethal powder and whose name has not yet been disclosed.
A spokesperson for the prosecution announced that the decision whether or not to continue the proceedings was still pending but the facts confirm the decisions taken by the organisation.
Institut Européen de bioéthique