Convicted Belgian Serial Rapist and Murderer Will Not Get His Wish to Die Early

Convicted Belgian serial rapist and murderer Frank Van Den Bleeken was set to be euthanized on January 11, after his request for assisted suicide was approved by Belgium's Federal Euthanasia Commission last September. The Flemish newspaper De Morgen reported Sunday that doctors in the northwestern city of Bruges would euthanize the 52-year-old.

But plans changed on Tuesday, when Belgian Justice Minister Koen Geens announced that the doctors tasked with the euthanasia had reversed their decision and would not "go ahead with the procedure." The minister did not explain the reason behind the decision, saying only that "personal reasons for the decision fall under medical confidentiality."

Instead of receiving an early death, Van Den Bleeken will be transferred from his prison cell in Bruges to a psychiatric hospital in Ghent that specializes in the treatment of severe mental disorders.

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Convicted of the 1989 rape and murder of 19-year-old Christiane Remacle, Van Den Bleeken spent the next seven years detained in a psychiatric facility. Within weeks of his release, he raped two young girls aged 11 and 17, and a 29-year-old store assistant. The courts determined that he was mentally ill, but Van Den Bleeken was sentenced to life in prison.

Sources close to the case told VICE News yesterday that Belgian courts had not in fact ruled on the legitimacy of the procedure, but rather had taken note of an agreement for the prisoner's transfer to a facility where the procedure would take place. This agreement, made between the Geens and Van Den Bleeken's lawyer, Jos Vander Velpen, simply confirmed the transfer of the prisoner to the prison hospital. The legitimacy of the procedure itself was left up to the doctors, who, in the end, decided against it.

Van Den Bleeken has spent the last four years petitioning the state for the right to end his life, due to what his lawyer has described as intolerable psychological suffering. Vander Velpen could not be reached for comment today, and has in the past expressed his wish to respect his client's confidentiality.

Belgium legalized euthanasia in 2002 — the second country in the world to do so, after the Netherlands. Jacqueline Herremans, a lawyer and president of the Belgian Association for the Right to Die with Dignity, explained to VICE News that the euthanasia law "is widely endorsed throughout Belgium, mostly by doctors who can now act within a transparent legal framework."

Belgium voted in 2013 to extend the law to include minors and dementia patients — changes that took effect last spring. But despite widespread acceptance of euthanasia, Van Den Bleeken's case has polarized Belgian society.

Candidates for assisted suicide must meet strict criteria, including having made a "voluntary, considered, and repeated" request to die, and being found to suffer from unbearable and untreatable physical or psychological torment. Van Den Bleeken had argued that his untreatable sexual urges made him a menace to society, and that euthanasia would put an end to his misery and prevent him from ever committing another crime.

Following his second conviction in 1996, Van Den Bleeken was found by courts to be not criminally responsible, owing to his mental illness. But he was sent to prison for life rather than committed to a psychiatric facility.

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Even though Van Den Bleeken had been deemed not criminally responsible, he remains "responsible for decisions about his health," Herremans said. Following Van Den Bleeken's request, a panel of psychiatric experts had validated the prisoner's claim that his condition was real and untreatable. The decision scandalized his victim Remacle's surviving family.

"For us this is incomprehensible," her sister Annie remarked. "He should rot in his cell."

Herremans believes the debate over Van Den Bleeken's euthanasia hinges on "two societal issues: on the one hand, the end of life, and on the other, the system for the management of psychiatric patients, which is seriously deficient."

An article published on Sunday by the Belgian daily Le Soir echoed Herremans's views, calling for a major overhaul of psychiatric internment in Belgium. In a statement released on Tuesday, Justice Minister Geens announced plans to "implement a concrete solution" for psychiatric patients over the next few months.

For Herremans, the case reveals the downside of the euthanasia law, which can be used for purposes other than those for which it was originally intended.

"The issue here is whether or not the case falls within the scope of application of the law," she said. "While his suffering and his status as a psychiatric patient are undeniable, what must be established is whether or not the suffering is a consequence of his illness, rather than detention."

If it is the latter, improving the conditions of Van Den Bleeken's incarceration could reduce his suffering, rendering the law irrelevant in his case.

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Speaking to VICE News the day before the medical team backtracked on its decision to euthanize Van Den Bleeken, Herremans opined that the doctors in question were putting themselves at legal risk, and could potentially face legal proceedings as a consequence of the euthanasia. She compared Van Den Bleeken's appeal to cases of terminally ill inmates who have been granted euthanasia in prison in the past. In those cases, in which prisoners were battling illnesses such as cancer, euthanasia did not prompt public outcry.

"But since the patient is suffering from a psychological disorder," she said, "the debate is altogether different."

Follow Pierre Longeray onTwitter: @p_a_l_

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