A convicted murderer and rapist is to be euthanised in Belgium at his own request, in the country’s latest controversy related to assisted dying.

The Irish Independent reports that Frank Van Den Bleeken, who has spent the last 30 years in prison for repeated convictions, has requested for three years that the state help him end his life due to what his lawyer called “unbearable psychic suffering”.

“I’m a danger to society,” he told state broadcaster VRT in a documentary earlier this year. “What am I supposed to do? What’s the point in sitting here until the end of time and rotting away? I’d rather be euthanised.” Van Den Bleeken also said that he considered himself “a menance to society”, and that he would be unable to overcome his violent impulses.

Belgium’s euthanasia panel, which assesses each request made for assisted suicide, first told Van Den Bleeken that he would have to seek psychiatric treatment. There are conflicting reports of whether or not he requested transfer to a specialised psychiatric centre in the Netherlands, but ultimately the justice ministry approved his request to die.

Van Den Bleeken’s lawyer, Jos Vander Velpen, said his client met all legal conditions, and for the past four years had felt he “couldn’t stand to live like this any longer and could no longer accept the pain”.

He said Van Den Bleeken would be transported to a hospital two days before his death “so he can say his farewells to his family in humanly dignified conditions”.

This is not the first time Belgium’s euthanasia laws have been applied to a serving prisoner since assisted suicide was legalised in 2002 – a terminally ill man who had spent 27 years in jail was legally killed two years ago – but it is the first tim. The country formally abolished capital punishment in 1996. 15 similar requests have been made to the panel since the decision to kill Van Den Bleeken was announced.