An 81-year-old man and woman, both activists of Ultime Liberté, an association defending “the legalization of assisted suicide and voluntary euthanasia”were presented to an investigating judge in Grenoble on Friday 16 August. They had initially been placed in police custody by the Grenoble public prosecutor’s office for “illegal practice of the profession of pharmacist” And “propaganda in favor of products recommended as means of aiding suicide”According to the Grenoble public prosecutor, Eric Vaillant, who requested a judicial control measure against them, they are suspected of having “given medication” to a 91-year-old person in a failed attempted suicide attempt.
It was the son of this nonagenarian who alerted the police on Wednesday, August 14, early in the evening. His mother had ingested the medication in question, before regurgitating it by vomiting it. Her state of health has not been specified. Contacted, the Grenoble prosecutor did not wish to give further details at this stage.
French law does not allow assisted suicide or euthanasia. A few weeks ago, a bill on the end of life, paving the way for a “help to die” according to the government, had begun to be debated in Parliament. But the dissolution of the National Assembly led to the work being stopped.
Early Friday afternoon, the Isère branch of Ultime Liberté, which has around 200 members, had no further information on the circumstances of the case. Local activist François Galichet said that the two accused octogenarians, Maryse and Guy L., are “old members of the association” and that they have, like a dozen other members in Grenoble, the status of “accompanying persons”That is to say, they work as closely as possible with people who have requested Ultimate Freedom with the desire to die.
“Ensuring people’s discernment”
Mr. and Mrs. L. “are balanced people, who had to take all the precautions in accordance with our charter”wants to believe François Galichet. This former professor of philosophy at the University of Strasbourg, author of several books on aging, nevertheless says he is surprised by the statements of the Grenoble prosecutor. “The first principle of our charter is that we do not order or supply any product. We help people who want to get it, by giving them the necessary informationassures François Galichet. The second principle is that we must ensure the discernment of these people. And we try to do all this in conjunction with their entourage, even if it is the will of the people who have contacted us that takes precedence.”
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