Dutch probe man for six deaths in ‘suicide’ cases

Dutch prosecutors are investigating a man for the deaths of at least six people allegedly supplied with a deadly substance which they used to commit suicide, law officials said on Friday.

The unidentified suspect, 28, who is from the southern city of Eindhoven, was arrested on Tuesday on suspicion of illegally assisted suicide, breaking the Dutch medicines law and money laundering, the public prosecutor’s office said.

“The case came to light after several people died. They passed away after allegedly taking a deadly substance supplied by the suspect,” it said.

Prosecutors during their investigation found “that this has happened to at least six people who have died.”

The suspect apparently sold the substance between November 2018 and June 2021, “and lived off the proceeds,” prosecutors said.

The case first came to their attention after the death of a woman in Best, near Eindhoven in May this year, prosecutors said.

The suspect remained in custody.

Euthanasia has been legal in the Netherlands since 2002, but only under strict rules.

This included the patient being lucid while making the request and experiencing unbearable suffering from a condition diagnosed as uncurable by at least two doctors.