Yahoo – AFP,
Philippe Siuberski, 6 Jan 2015
Brussels (AFP) - A serial rapist and murderer who had won the right to die under Belgium's controversial euthanasia laws will not now be put to death following fresh medical advice, authorities said Tuesday.
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Belgian
Frank Van Den Bleeken, a convicted serial rapist, attends a hearing to
determine if he will be allowed to be euthanised, at the Court of Brussels on
November 25, 2013 (AFP Photo/Virginie Lefour)
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Brussels (AFP) - A serial rapist and murderer who had won the right to die under Belgium's controversial euthanasia laws will not now be put to death following fresh medical advice, authorities said Tuesday.
Frank Van
Den Bleeken, who has spent 26 years in jail for repeated rapes and a
rape-murder, will instead be moved from his prison in the northwestern city of
Bruges to a new psychiatric treatment centre in Ghent, Justice Minister Koen
Geens said.
The
Flemish-language newspaper De Morgen reported Saturday that Van Den Bleeken
would be voluntarily euthanized by lethal injection in Bruges prison on January
11.
The report
sparked complaints from human rights activists that Belgium was flouting its
own euthanasia laws by failing to provide proper treatment for such cases.
Geens said
in a statement he "takes note of the decision of doctors treating Mr Frank
Van Den Bleeken to no longer continue the euthanasia procedure."
He gave no
reason for the decision, citing medical privacy.
The rapist
and murderer had for years requested that the state help him end his life due
to what his lawyer Jos Vander Velpen called "unbearable"
psychological suffering because he was unable to check his violent sexual
impulses.
His wish
was granted by doctors in September.
Belgium
legalised euthanasia in 2002, the second country in the world to do so after
The Netherlands, and logged a record 1,807 cases of euthanasia in 2013.
Its strict
conditions for a mercy killing include that patients must be capable, conscious
and have presented a "voluntary, considered and repeated" request to
die.
'Give me
euthanasia'
Lawyer
Vander Velpen said last year the sex offender met all legal conditions, and for
the last few years had felt he "couldn't stand to live like this any
longer and could no longer accept the pain".
"I am
a human being, and regardless of what I've done, I remain a human being. So,
yes, give me euthanasia," Van Den Bleeken said at the time in comments on
VRT Flemish Belgian television.
Van Den
Bleeken, considering himself a menace to society, had refused to be considered
for early parole, but found the conditions of his detention inhumane.
He had
requested a transfer to a specialised psychiatric centre in The Netherlands for
treatment or, failing that, a mercy killing.
Belgian authorities
at the time denied the transfer request and senior officials said Van Den
Bleeken also refused the option of being moved to the new facility that opened
in Ghent in November.
But Geens,
who took office with a new government in October, said the prisoner would now
be transferred to the centre in Ghent where he would undergo observation about
the long-term treatment he needs.
He added
that Belgian authorities had also undertaken "very recent and intense
contacts" with their Dutch counterparts that "offer a very clear
prospect for a rapid transfer to a centre in the Netherlands specialised in
long stays."
The
minister said that since assuming office he has made contacts to develop over
the next six months new possibilities for treatment of long-term prisoners
suffering from "deep psychological problems."
He observed
that there was a lack of such care in Belgium and that the country had been
condemned for it by the European Court of Human Rights.
In February last year, Belgium became the first country to allow euthanasia for terminally ill children of all ages, after a heated debate in which critics questioned a child's ability to make the decision to die.
Rapist 'to be euthanised in Belgian jail on January 11'
Belgian court upholds rapist Van Den Bleeken's right to die
In February last year, Belgium became the first country to allow euthanasia for terminally ill children of all ages, after a heated debate in which critics questioned a child's ability to make the decision to die.
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"Current" Events – Apr 10, 2005 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll)
Nearly 5,000 people died via euthanasia in the Netherlands in 2013
Euthanasia declaration should be renewed regularly
Nine myths about euthanasia in the Netherlands
Europe split on right-to-die regulations
Top French court grants coma patient the right to die
French panel recommends legalising assisted suicide
Assisted suicide campaigners fail to get UK supreme court to overturn ban
Assisted suicide campaigners await UK supreme court verdict on right to die
Ex-archbishop Carey backs assisted suicide
Desmond Tutu plea for 'assisted dying' before historic Lords debate
"Current" Events – Apr 10, 2005 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll)
"... The Ethics of Life
You, as a Human Being, are designed to appreciate and love life. But you put it in a box. You think you live once. You say, life is precious; make it count; keep it going at all costs; make it work. And the underlying thought is that because you only go around one time, all the purpose is wrapped up in one lifetime. Well, I'm going to give you something to think about, something that happened just recently that tens of millions of people all over earth who have the western news media know of.
It was all about one woman's life, and you know who I'm talking about. I'm talking about Terri [Terri Schiavo]. And I'm going to talk about Terri because, you know, she's here [speaking of the real Terri]! And I'm going to give you a perspective about Terri that perhaps you hadn't thought about before, and as I do it, she's going to watch.
It's very metaphysical, you know? This perspective is one from my side of the veil. Terri leaned into the wind of birth many years ago, just as you did. I was there, too. There were potentials laying in front of her - a track that she could take if she wished. There was no predestination, only predispositions of energy that laid before her: the parents she would have (which she had selected), the man she might meet or marry, the accident waiting to happen. All of these things were in her "potential track," and she could have chosen not to go there.
But like so many of you, she looked at it and examined it. These were the times we spoke to her and said, "Dear one, you're going into another Human lifetime that has a potential that's awesome - grander than most Humans on the planet will ever experience. You'll get to present something to tens of millions of people. You'll make them think about life. You'll change the legal system of your country. You'll awaken peoples' awareness to situations that need to be addressed with respect to morality, integrity, and even intuition. Will you do it?"
And I remember what she said. The grand angel who stood before me, who you now call Terri, smiled broadly and said, "I'm ready for that." And some of you cry in your sorrow and say "Why is this Human dead? How could such a thing be tolerated? Why would such a thing happen? Life is so precious." And I ask you this, as Terri looks on in her joy, would you take this away from her? Would you take that away from humanity, what she showed and did that resulted directly in her passing?
Start thinking of these things, perhaps differently. We've told you before that there are even those Human Beings who come in with a predisposition of suicide! What a horrible thought, you might say. "Kryon, could that even be appropriate?" And we say this: More than appropriate, it's by design! "But why should that be?" You might say. "What a horrible dishonorable death." And if that's your reaction, you're placing the whole grand picture in your own little Human box.
When you start examining it spiritually, without Human bias, you start to see that around a suicide there's this energy that develops. It's all about the family. Is there shame? Is there drama? Does it kick the family in the pants so that perhaps they might study things they never did - or perhaps they might they even look within themselves for spirituality? Blessed is the one that comes in with these tasks [like suicide]. There are so many of them who do. For these are the grease of personal change within families, and provide a gift that is grand!
You see, Spirit looks at these things differently. The curtain goes up, it goes down. You come and you go and there are profound lessons, some of which are taught harshly, by those who teach them through their own deaths.
"Well, what is it Kryon? Don't dodge the question with a diversion to suicide, for this isn't what Terri did. Is it proper or is it improper to have somebody in this vegetative state put to death by others around her?" Our answer: Exactly which Human are you talking about? You want a blanket answer, don't you? For six and half billion souls and paths, you want one answer for all. Well, you won't get one. For Terri, the answer is a solid yes. It was as it should have been. She came in with this grand opportunity to change the world, and she did it while everyone watched.
There is appropriateness in all things and sometimes you create for yourselves what seems to be inappropriate. Yet later you understand what the gift was within the challenge. Celebrate Terri, and don't think of this as a shameful thing that Humans did to her. Think of it instead as a book that was written for you to look at, one which pushes you to a place to ask, "What should we do about this now, personally? What should our legislatures do about this, if anything? How can we approach these things more humanely and with more honor? Is our culture addressing this issue? Are we addressing this issue personally?" Let's put these questions where they belong. It's not about "right to life"; it's about the appropriateness of "this life." Each case is individual, and some are profoundly given for the planet and for those around the individual.
Oh, as all of you came into this planet and leaned into the wind of birth separately, each was unique. Each of you has a different story, a different goal, but all have the same purpose: the elevation of the vibration of the planet. Sometimes it happens to many of you at the same time. We'll get to that before we finish. ..."
"THE THREE WINDS" – Feb 23-24, 2013 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll) (Subjects: Humanity, Home - other side of the veil, Wind of Birth - Birth, Wind of Existence - Life, Wind of Transition - Death)
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