Agence France Presse English
Fri 31 Jan 2003
Section: International News T
time: 17:24 GMT (13:24 Eastern Time)
VERSAILLES, France, Jan 31 (AFP) - A French court on Friday sentenced a
33-year-old former nurse to 10 years in prison for murdering six patients,
in a case that revived a debate in France about the legalization of
euthanasia.
Christine Malevre claimed she acted out of compassion when she killed
terminally ill patients admitted to the Francois-Quesnay hospital in the
Paris suburb Mantes-la-Jolie, where she worked between February 1997 and
May 1998.
Her attorney, Charles Libman, had urged the court to acquit Malevre, saying
during his closing arguments that other doctors and nurses had committed
euthanasia without being brought to trial.
But the families of several of the deceased denied that their relatives ever
asked to die, and pro-euthanasia organizations have stepped back from
offering support in the case.
Malevre, who had been accused of seven murders and faced a maximum sentence
of life in prison, was acquitted of one count of murder by the court in
Versailles, outside of Paris. She was barred from ever working
as a nurse.
Malevre was expected to be transferred to a Versailles women's prison later
Friday.
Psychiatrists who examined Malevre concluded that she had "a morbid
fascination with illness" and that, despite having some personality
disorders, she was aware of her acts.
In custody, Malevre allegedly admitted to helping around 30 patients die,
but later in a book entitled "Mes Aveux" (My Testimony), she only spoke of
three assisted suicides and one fatal "error."
Arrested in 1998, she was released pending her trial on condition she no
longer worked as a nurse and that she received psychological counseling.
Produced by the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition, Box 25033, London ON N6C 6A8
Tel: 1-877-439-3348, Email: info@epcc.ca