Ludwig Minelli, the founder of the Swiss right-to-die organization Dignitas, has died by assisted suicide, according to the group.
Minelli, 92, passed away on Saturday, just days before his 93rd birthday.
Dignitas paid tribute to Minelli, acknowledging his “life for freedom of choice, self-determination, and human rights.”
He established Dignitas in 1998, and the organization has since assisted thousands of individuals in ending their lives.
In recent decades, several countries have altered their stances on assisted dying, with Australia, Canada, and New Zealand enacting relevant legislation. The UK House of Lords is currently deliberating on the assisted dying bill.
Critics of legalization argue that it could lead to the coercion of disabled and vulnerable individuals into ending their lives.
Minelli began his professional life as a journalist, functioning as a correspondent for the German news magazine Der Spiegel, before pursuing legal studies and developing an interest in human rights advocacy.
Throughout his life, he passionately campaigned for the right to die, encapsulating Dignitas’ mission with the slogan “dignity in life, dignity in death.”
In a 2010 interview with the BBC, Minelli stated, “I am persuaded that we have to struggle in order to implement the last human right in our societies. And the last human right is the right to make a decision on one’s own end, and the possibility to have this end without risk and without pain.”
Minelli founded Dignitas after a divergence from Exit, an older Swiss assisted dying organization, citing concerns that its regulations were overly restrictive.
Dignitas gained international recognition for extending assisted suicide services to non-Swiss citizens who traveled to Switzerland due to the unavailability of assisted dying options in their home countries.
Within Switzerland, Minelli faced criticism regarding alleged opacity in the organization’s financial affairs and providing assisted dying to individuals who were not terminally ill but desired to end their lives.
He encountered numerous legal challenges, successfully appealing to the Swiss supreme court on multiple occasions.
In a statement, Dignitas asserted that Minelli’s work had a lasting impact, referencing a 2011 ruling by the European Court of Human Rights, which affirmed the right of a person capable of judgment to make decisions concerning the manner and timing of their own death.
Euthanasia – wherein a physician administers a lethal drug to intentionally end a person’s life to alleviate suffering – remains illegal in Switzerland.
However, assisted dying has been permitted under Swiss law since 1942, subject to strict conditions, including the absence of profit motive and the individual’s sound mental state.
Dignitas affirmed its commitment to “manage and develop the association in the spirit of its founder as a professional and combative international organisation for self-determination and freedom of choice in life and at the end of life.”
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