An 87-year-old woman killed her husband – 90 years old and with terminal cancer – "at his request". She was indicted for "intentional homicide by spouse".
On Saturday August 1, an octogenarian helped her 90-year-old husband to die. The latter had a terminal cancer. The 87-year-old woman assured authorities that she had acted at her husband's request. It was the family and a home nurse who alerted the police and emergency services when they found the lifeless body of the sick man.
The facts took place at the couple's home in Tilloy-les-Mofflaines, in Pas-de-Calais. According to the description of the prosecution in its press release quoted by Le Parisien, the woman would have armed herself with a "36 caliber revolver-type firearm". The octogenarian would then have tried to end his life as well. The latter, in shock, was first hospitalized. She was then heard by the gendarmes. After admitting the facts, she was taken into police custody and charged with "intentional homicide by spouse".
According to the Voix du Nord, the judge of freedoms and detention and the prosecution decided that the widow would not be imprisoned, because she does not present a danger to society. However, if she remains free, she will be placed under judicial control which includes "the obligations to fix her residence", "to respond to summons" and "to justify psychological care".
As for the investigation, it continues to determine if this murder was an assisted suicide, of a "common project".
Euthanasia is a very sensitive subject and remains illegal in France. Recently, a decree of March 28, 2020 was published in the Official Journal and was accused by Internet users of allowing caregivers to euthanize people with Covid-19 by administering Rivotril. This had triggered a real outcry on the Web. Olivier Guérin, president of the French Society of Geriatrics and Gerontology (SFGG), had assured that "alleviating the end of a patient’s life does not mean that euthanasia is legalized in France".