Creator of ‘suicide capsule’ rejects Swiss allegation that its first user may have been strangled

Associated Press

GENEVA (AP) — The right-to-die activist behind a new “suicide capsule” says he rejects “absurd” allegations that the U.S. woman who was said to be its first user may have actually been strangled. Philip Nitschke of Exit International says he wasn’t on hand for her death on Sept. 23 inside the “Sarco” capsule in a forest in northern Switzerland, but watched live it by video. He says he’s speaking out because the head of a Swiss affiliate of advocacy group Exit International remains in police custody in connection with the case. Nitschke first spoke in an interview with Swiss newspaper Neue Zuercher Zeitung published Wednesday.