Euthanasia activist who was arrested over suicide pod death ‘takes his own life'
A right-to-die activist who was arrested over the first reported use of a 'suicide pod' has died by assisted suicide, according to the device's inventor.
Dr Florian Willet, 47, was detained last year in connection with the death of a 64-year-old woman on suspicion of 'inciting and abetting suicide' and a 'strong suspicion of the commission of an intentional homicide'. After two months in custody, he was released in December after police ruled out the possibility of an intentional homicide.
Exit International director Dr Philip Nitschke, the man behind the Sarco pod, said the accusations caused serious psychological problems for Dr Willet.
Dr Nitschke told Dutch news outlet Volkskrant that Dr Willet died last month by suicide.
'When Florian was released suddenly and unexpectedly from pre-trial detention in early December 2024, he was a changed man,' Dr Nitschke said.
'Gone was his warm smile and self-confidence. In its place was a man who seemed deeply traumatised by the experience of incarceration and the wrongful accusation of strangulation.'
The activist's friend, Laura, told the Dutch outlet that he had changed after the detention. 'This friendly, positive man had changed into an anxious, suspicious person who no longer trusted even his best friends,' she said. 'He lived in his own world. He became increasingly distant from his friends.'
Dr Willet, head of euthanasia advocacy group The Last Resort, was released by authorities in the northern Schaffhausen region after the apparent first use of the Sarco suicide capsule, a sealed chamber that releases gas at the press of a button.
Authorities no longer suspected intentional homicide, but a 'strong suspicion of the crime of inciting and abetting suicide' remained, a statement from Swiss prosecutors said.
Although an autopsy report from experts in neighboring Zurich was not yet available, investigators no longer suspect intentional homicide, though there is 'strong suspicion of the crime of inciting and abetting suicide," the statement said.
Swiss law allows assisted suicide so long as the person takes his or her life with no 'external assistance' and those who help the person die do not do so for 'any self-serving motive,' says a government website.
While active euthanasia of someone else is illegal, supplying the means of dying is legal as long as the person administers it themselves.
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