Belgium doesn't kill killers but will kill the depresed.

Published by OneNewsNow on February 20, 2019.

By Charlie Butts

A study of Belgium prisoners, who were killed at their own request, has revealed tragic irony in a country with liberal euthanasia laws.

Research: Euthanasia of prisoners in Belgium.

Belgian euthanasia protest.

The study, published in magazine The Knack by Jan Lippens, followed 23 prisoners who requested euthanasia between 2011 and 2017.

Alex Schadenberg of the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition tells OneNewsNow that a majority of the prisoners were convicted of heinous crimes, such as murder, and were unlikely to ever be released. But only two of the 23 prisoners actually faced a terminal illness which, naturally, would be the expected reason to ask for a hastened death.

The remaining prisoners cited psychological reasons for asking to die, Schadenberg says, which is sadly ironic in Belgium where capital punishment is outlawed.

"So the concept is that it's wrong to kill a prisoner," he points out, "but then secondly it's okay to lethally inject them because they are experiencing psychological suffering."

Assisted death is already being done in some jurisdictions on that basis and Canada, which legalized terminating ill people in 2016, is considering expanding the list to those suffering psychologically.