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Belgium grants jailed rapist, murderer euthanasia
A Belgian convicted of murder and rape who has been imprisoned for almost three decades has been granted the right to die after doctors agreed his psychological condition was incurable, an official said Tuesday
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Belgian convicted of murder and rape who has been imprisoned for almost three decades has been granted the right to die after doctors agreed his psychological condition was incurable, an official said Tuesday.
Belgium's justice minister approved Frank Van Den Bleeken's transfer to a hospital where doctors will end his life, the official said. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to discuss the case publicly.
Apparently unable to control his sexual urges, the convict had no prospect of leaving prison.
His lawyer, Jos Vander Velpen, told Belgian television on Monday his client was "suffering unbearably" because of his psychiatric condition, seeing himself as a danger to society.
"He can no longer live like that," the lawyer said.
The official declined to discuss when the medically-assisted suicide would take place.
Van Den Bleeken's lawyer couldn't immediately be reached for comment.
Belgium has allowed euthanasia since 2002 in cases where patients' physical or psychological suffering is incurable and constant. About 1,400 people a year choose the option, but it has rarely ever been applied to convicts before.
Belgium, like the rest of the 28-nation European Union, doesn't have the death penalty.
Van Den Bleeken had requested a transfer to a specialized psychiatric center in the Netherlands for treatment or, failing that, a mercy killing. Belgian authorities denied the transfer request earlier this year. An agreement to carry out the assisted suicide was accepted by an appeals court in Brussels on Monday.
Euthanasia for the terminally ill is widely accepted in Belgium. However, a February decision by the country's lawmakers to extend the euthanasia law to terminally ill children under 18 stirred some controversy. (++++)
