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Belgium: Convict’s Request for Assisted Suicide Is Rejected Belgium: Convict’s Request for Assisted Suicide Is Rejected
(about 1 hour later)
Doctors in Belgium have rejected a request by an imprisoned murderer and rapist for medically assisted suicide, officials said Tuesday. The prisoner, Frank Van Den Bleeken, 51, who has served nearly 30 years of a life sentence, was to receive a lethal injection on Sunday, after the ministry consented to his request in September, Justice Minister Koen Geens said last week. The doctors stopped the process, though a Justice Ministry statement said medical confidentiality prevented the doctors from disclosing why. The assisted death would have been the first involving a prisoner since Belgium legalized euthanasia 12 years ago. Doctors in Belgium have rejected a request by an imprisoned murderer and rapist for medically assisted suicide, officials said Tuesday. The prisoner, Frank Van Den Bleeken, 51, who has served nearly 30 years of a life sentence, was to get a lethal injection on Sunday, after the ministry consented to his request in September, Justice Minister Koen Geens said last week. The doctors stopped the process, though a Justice Ministry statement said medical confidentiality prevented the doctors from disclosing why. The assisted death would have been the first involving a prisoner since Belgium legalized euthanasia 12 years ago.