Date set for rapist and murderer's 'mercy killing'

A convicted murderer who was awarded the right to be euthanised due to "psychological distress" will receive a lethal injection later the week, Belgian authorities have confirmed.

Frank Van Den Bleeken, a serial rapist who has spent much of the last 30 years in prison in Belgium requested the right to end his life due to "unbearable" psychological suffering, saying that he found the conditions of his detention inhumane, Agence France Presse reports.

"What am I supposed to do? What's the point in sitting here until the end of time and rotting away? I'd rather be euthanised," he said in a documentary filmed last year.

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The Belgian government is yet to release an official statement on the matter, but a justice ministry spokesperson told De Morgen newspaper: "Euthanasia will indeed be implemented. Now the time has come." The date has reportedly been set for Sunday 11 January.

Belgium introduced an assisted dying law in 2002, but this is the first time the law has ever been applied to a prisoner.

Van Den Bleeken raped 19-year-old Christiane Remacle on her way home from a party in 1989, later strangling her to death with one of her stockings. After spending seven years on a prison psychiatric ward he attacked three more victims aged between 11 and 29, the Daily Telegraph reports. He was detained indefinitely after those attacks.

The family of one of his victims has criticised the decision to help him die, saying he should "languish in prison" for the rest of his life instead of being allowed to escape his punishment.

"Commissions, doctors and experts have spent so long considering the ups and downs of the life of the murderer of our sister," one woman told a Dutch newspaper. "In all those years, no committee ever asked our parents or us how we felt."

Critics of the controversial decision say that it exposes the lack of help and support for mentally ill prisoners, instead condemning them to death. But its supporters say that assisted suicide will save the taxpayer considerable amounts of money.

This is not the first time the country's euthanasia laws have caused controversy. Last year, the Belgian parliament voted to legalise the practice for terminally ill children, becoming the only country in the world not to have an age restriction on euthanasia.

Belgian rapist and murderer wins right to be euthanised

16 September

In a groundbreaking ruling, a Belgian court has awarded a prisoner the right to end his life.

Frank Van Den Bleeken, the 50-year old prisoner, was convicted of rape and murder in the 1980s and his lawyers argue that he is "unable to control his violent sexual urges", the BBC reports.

Belgium introduced an assisted dying law in 2002, but this is the first time the law has been applied to a prisoner.

The law requires a patient to make a "voluntary, considered and repeated" argument to be euthanised. Right-to-die supporters call assisted suicide the "ultimate gesture of humanity".

He first made his request in 2011 citing "unbearable psychological anguish", but it was turned down several times. "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, ITV reports.

This is the second times in a year Belgium's euthanasia laws have caused controversy. In February, the Belgian parliament voted to legalise the practice for terminally ill children.