Assistance in dying: Jean Mercier released by the Lyon Court of Appeal

The Lyon Court of Appeal (Rhône) on Thursday released Jean Mercier, 88, five years to the day after the facts. Last September, the man was sentenced at first instance to a “principle sentence”: a one-year suspended sentence for failing to assist a person in danger. On November 10, 2011, he had helped his wife, Josanne, to leave.

Relaxed by the judges, he did not hide his satisfaction: “I am overjoyed”, he declared at the end of the hearing during a telephone conversation with the chairman of his support committee. , Henri Duchez. Affected by Parkinson’s disease, he was unable to attend his trial. Same happiness for his lawyer, Me Mickaël Boulay, who defended his client for “five long years”. For him, “it is the culmination of a long process. I am so happy. “

Present in large numbers at the hearing, the activists of the Association for the Right to Die in Dignity (ADMD) also share their joy at such an outcome. On Twitter, they write: “RELAX! Jean Mercier is released, justice has recognized his gesture of love. The law on the end of life must now change ”. Towards assisted suicide, they hope. Its president, Jean-Luc Romero-Michel, adds: “Happy for Jean. Justice takes its responsibilities. And the elected officials? He asks.

Too tired to go to Switzerland

In interview given in 2015 to our colleagues from Parisian, the octogenarian said he was shocked by the accusations against him. For him, “this act of humanity required a lot of courage” and if he had not done it, he would have been ashamed of him. He explains that he kept a reciprocal promise made 15 years earlier.

The charges against him date back to a morning in November 2011. His wife Josiane, 83, suffers from severe pain due to osteoarthritis and calmed down by morphine. She had also been depressed for about 30 years and had tried to kill herself several times. Members of the ADMD, they had scheduled a departure for Switzerland, where assisted suicide is legal. But too tired, Josanne Mercier will give it up.

Nothing to hide

Then came November 10, 2011. That day, Jean Mercier felt in his wife’s voice that the complaints were different, “that she wanted to end it at all costs”. He agrees to bring her his medicines and to empty the bottle of morphine into a glass. A few hours later, he calls the doctor. But before he signs the burial permit, the octogenarian tells him everything. “Basically, I had nothing to hide, I know she left in peace,” he said on a daily basis.

Even today, Jean Mercier is convinced that he made the right choice for him and his wife. Moreover, he is convinced that France will end up authorizing assisted suicide within 10 or 20 years …