Suicide pod activist Dr Florian Willet takes own life after arrest over ‘murder’ of woman who used euthanasia device
A SUICIDE pod activist has taken his own life after being interrogated over the murder of a woman who died in one of the euthanasia devices.
Florian Willet, 47, suffered a mental breakdown after being arrested by Swiss Police last year, according to Philip Nitschke, the inventor of the Sarco suicide capsule.
Willet, from Germany, was the director of Last Resort, the Swiss suicide organisation which operated the Sarco pods.
He was also a prominent right-to-die activist.
The director was investigated for aiding and abetting suicide after a woman became the first person to die in one of the pods last September.
As part of the probe, prosecutors investigated whether he strangled the woman, but that was ruled out.
Willet was released in December after being held in pre-trial detention for 70 days.
Nitschke, who also directs pro-assisted dying group Exit International, 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.”
He revealed that his colleague Willet sought help and went into hospital twice before his death on May 5 this year.
Willet reportedly died in Germany with the help of a specialist organisation, though it is not known exactly how he died.
Nitschke continued: “To describe Florian is to talk of a man who was thoughtful, caring, funny, and friendly. He was an easy person to be around.
“But most of all, Florian was kind. Florian was also passionate about a person’s right to choose when to die.”
Suicide is legal in Switzerland within certain tight restrictions.
The pod had never been used until last year, and there had been warnings that using it for suicide may be illegal.
In September last year, an unnamed 64-year-old American woman with an immune disease entered the pod and pressed a button to fill the Sarco pod with nitrogen gas.
Willet was the only person present when she died in a forest in Schaffhausen, Switzerland.
He reported the death to the authorities but was arrested along with several others.
All those detained were then released, other than Willet.
He reported that the first Sarco pod death was as “peaceful, fast and dignified”.
Before his arrest, Willet said in an interview: “By the age of five I took my own dying by suicide into consideration.”
He also revealed that when he was 14 his father had taken his own life, but that he was “completely fine with it”.
YOU'RE NOT ALONE
EVERY 90 minutes in the UK a life is lost to suicide.
It doesn’t discriminate, touching the lives of people in every corner of society – from the homeless and unemployed to builders and doctors, reality stars and footballers.
It’s the biggest killer of people under the age of 35, more deadly than cancer and car crashes.
And men are three times more likely to take their own life than women.
Yet it’s rarely spoken of, a taboo that threatens to continue its deadly rampage unless we all stop and take notice, now.
That is why The Sun launched the You’re Not Alone campaign.
The aim is that by sharing practical advice, raising awareness and breaking down the barriers people face when talking about their mental health, we can all do our bit to help save lives.
Let’s all vow to ask for help when we need it, and listen out for others… You’re Not Alone.
If you, or anyone you know, needs help dealing with mental health problems, the following organisations provide support:
- CALM, www.thecalmzone.net, 0800 585 858
- Heads Together, www.headstogether.org.uk
- Mind, www.mind.org.uk, 0300 123 3393
- Papyrus, www.papyrus-uk.org, 0800 068 41 41
- Samaritans, www.samaritans.org, 116 123