Swiss authorities release right-to-die activist in Sarco ‘suicide capsule’ case

Sarco, the 3D-printed suicide pod, was presented in Switzerland for the first time on July 17 in Zurich. It was reportedly used in September in canton Schaffhausen. Keystone / Ennio Leanza

A right-to-die activist has been released after more than two months in police custody over the reported first use of the Sarco “suicide capsule”, after prosecutors ruled out the possibility of an intentional homicide.

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The suspect was released on Monday after being remanded in custody in connection with the reported use of the Sarco capsule – a sealed chamber that releases gas at the press of a button – last September in a forest in Schaffhausen in northern Switzerland. The man is the co-president of the organisation “The Last Resort”.

He had made available the capsule in which the body of a 64-year-old American woman who had decided to end her life was found. The man who was released is no longer suspected of voluntary homicide, said the Schaffhausen public prosecutor on Monday.

However, criminal proceedings brought against several people for incitement and assistance to suicide continue based on strong suspicions, the prosecutor added.

+ Why liberal Switzerland is opposed to the Sarco suicide capsule

The case hit the headlines in Switzerland and beyond two months ago. The initial findings of the investigation indicated that there were strong suspicions of intentional homicide, which justified the length of the preventive detention.

Today, however, even though the autopsy results are not yet available, this hypothesis can be ruled out, the prosecutor’s office said.

Officials from “The Last Resort” have denied the accusations. Four people were arrested following the incident, including the co-president of “The Last Resort”, two lawyers and a Dutch photographer, the last three of whom were not held for long.

The Sarco pod was designed to allow a person sitting in its reclining seat to push a button that injects nitrogen gas into the sealed chamber. The person is then supposed to fall unconscious and die by suffocation in a few minutes.

+ Assisted suicide: Sarco inventor defends himself against killing rumours

Swiss law allows assisted suicide so long as the person takes his or her life with no “external assistance” and those who help the person die do not do so for “any self-serving motive,” says a government website.

The American woman found dead on September 23 in a forest near Merishausen, canton Schaffhausen, had reportedly been seriously ill for several years due to a severe immune deficiency.

Swiss Health Minister Elisabeth Baume-Schneider declared at the end of September that the assisted suicide capsule was incompatible with Swiss law.

+ Assisted suicide: Sarco capsule deemed incompatible with Swiss law

Translated from French by DeepL/sb

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