Dutch activists sue government over assisted suicide

By MIKE CORDER
Associated Press

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — Activists calling for the decriminalization of assisted suicide in the Netherlands have taken the Dutch government to court, arguing that its ban on helping a person end their life breaches human rights. The case at The Hague District Court on Monday is the latest legal battle in a long-running debate around end-of-life issues in the country that in 2002 became the first in the world to pass a law that decriminalized euthanasia. A group called Cooperative Last Will is asking the court to declare that the Dutch state is “acting unlawfully by denying its citizens the right to die with dignity under their own control.”