Belgian doctors face trial in country's first euthanasia case
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BRUSSELS: Three Belgian doctors go on trial for murder on Tuesday for helping a woman end her life, in the country's first criminal case concerning euthanasia.
The doctors, whose names have not been made public, are accused of unlawfully poisoning 38-year-old Tine Nys on April 27, 2010. Prosecutors say Nys did not fulfil the conditions under Belgian law to be euthanised.
They are the first doctors to go on trial for euthanasia in Belgium since the country legalised the practice in 2002.
The three, whose signatures were required for the procedure, are the doctor who administered the lethal injection, Nys's former general practitioner and a psychiatrist.
Nys's parents and sisters, who were present at her death, complained that the euthanasia was carried out in an amateurish manner and that Nys did not have an incurable mental disorder, a key condition for granting euthanasia.
The trial in a court in the northern city of Ghent will focus on jury selection when it starts on Tuesday afternoon, a process that could take time given the sensitive nature of the case.
The doctors, whose names have not been made public, are accused of unlawfully poisoning 38-year-old Tine Nys on April 27, 2010. Prosecutors say Nys did not fulfil the conditions under Belgian law to be euthanised.
They are the first doctors to go on trial for euthanasia in Belgium since the country legalised the practice in 2002.
The three, whose signatures were required for the procedure, are the doctor who administered the lethal injection, Nys's former general practitioner and a psychiatrist.
Nys's parents and sisters, who were present at her death, complained that the euthanasia was carried out in an amateurish manner and that Nys did not have an incurable mental disorder, a key condition for granting euthanasia.
The trial in a court in the northern city of Ghent will focus on jury selection when it starts on Tuesday afternoon, a process that could take time given the sensitive nature of the case.
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