A Dutch court has ruled against activists who wanted to make it legal for anyone to perform assisted suicide procedures in the Netherlands.

In their written decision, the judges ruled that the Dutch law strikes a “fair balance between the societal interests of a ban on assisting a suicide – protection of life and preventing abuse of vulnerable persons – and the interests of an individual to have access to physician-assisted suicide in the case of unbearable suffering without the prospect it will get better”.

The Netherlands was the first country in the world to legalise euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide under strict conditions and when overseen by medical professionals in 2002.

Right-to-die organisation Cooperative Last Will brought the case with the aim of widening existing laws. It argued the ban on assisting suicide not overseen by medical professionals violated the right to self-determination and respect for private life enshrined in the European Convention on Human Rights.