7 November 2007

Maur, Switzerland (dpa) - Swiss prosecutors Wednesday confirmed a television account of a euthanasia group assisting two Germans in committing suicide.

In a case certain to flame controversy on the issue of euthanasia, Swiss television reported that the group Dignitas had helped the two Germans to commit suicide in a car on a parking lot in the town of Maur.

The two were both men, aged 50 and 65 years.

According to the daily Blick on Wednesday, one of the men had driven to the parking lot, located in a wooded area, in a car specially equipped for the handicapped.

It was not immediately known where in Germany the men came from.

Dignitas has come under increasing criticism in Switzerland for its activities.

Recently local communities in the city of Zurich refused to permit the group from carrying out any assistance in suicides in residential or industrial areas. Dignitas then switched to hotels.

The group, which is also lobbying for permission to assist in suicides in Germany, provides help to those who provide proof that they are incurably ill. Most of those it assists come from outside Switzerland, a large portion of these from neighbouring Germany.

DPA

Subject: German news