Dries van Agt, a former prime minister of the Netherlands, passed away “hand in hand” with his spouse Eugenie through legal euthanasia. Both 93, passed away earlier this month in Agt’s hometown of Nijmegen, according to a statement made by The Rights Forum, a human rights organization he founded.
According to the press release, before making the decision to pass away, Agt and his wife had been experiencing health problems for some time. Agt never fully recovered from a brain haemorrhage he had in 2019. Gerad Jonkman, the director of the nonprofit, stated that although he and his wife were “very ill,” they “couldn’t live without each other” regarding the decision to end their lives, as reported by The Guardian.
“In consultation with the immediate family, we announce that our founder and honorary chairman Dries van Agt passed away on Monday, February 5, in his hometown of Nijmegen,” according to a press release.
“He died together and hand in hand with his beloved wife Eugenie van Agt-Krekelberg, the support with whom he was together for more than seventy years, and whom he always continued to refer to as ‘my girl’,” it added.
Notably, Agt led the Christian Democratic Appeal party for the first time and served as prime minister of the Netherlands from 1977 to 1982.
These fatal injections are now being considered as a part of a growing trend in the Netherlands known as “duo euthanasia,” in which two individuals receive a lethal injection at the same time. The outlet claims that 29 couples chose assisted suicide in 2022, up from 16 couples who made the decision in 2021 and 13 pairs the year before.
