European court finds against Belgium in euthanasia case

4th October 2022

Belgium violated the European Convention on Human Rights when it failed to properly examine the circumstances behind a controversial euthanasia case, a court ruling said today.

The European Court of Human Rights ruled in favour of Tom Mortier, son of Godelieva de Troyer, who died by lethal injection in 2012, aged 64. Her euthanasia was conducted on the basis of a diagnosis of “incurable depression”. The son was not informed about what was to happen until after his mother had been killed.

In the case of Mortier v. Belgium, the Court held that there was a violation of Article 2 of the Convention that everyone’s right to life shall be protected by law.

This judgment was with regard to the way in which the facts surrounding de Troyer’s euthanasia were handled by Belgium’s Federal Commission for the Control and Evaluation of Euthanasia and the promptness of a criminal trial following de Troyer’s death. It did not, however, rule that there was any violation of Belgium’s legislative framework for the practice of euthanasia itself.

“We welcome the Court’s finding of an Article 2 violation, which demonstrates the inadequacy of ‘safeguards’ for the intentional ending of life”, said Robert Clarke, Deputy Director of ADF International, who represented Tom Mortier before the Court.,

“Unfortunately, while the Court indicated that more ‘safeguarding’ is an appropriate solution to protecting life, in its own ruling it makes clear that laws and protocols were indeed insufficient to protect the rights of Tom’s mother”.