GENEVA (AP) — Swiss prosecutors said a right-to-die activist was released Monday after more than two months in police custody over the reported first use of a so-called “suicide capsule,” after they ruled out the possibility of an intentional homicide.
Florian Willet, head of advocacy group The Last Resort, was released by authorities in the northern Schaffhausen region, where a 64-year-old U.S. woman in late September was said to be the first user of the Sarco suicide capsule, a sealed chamber that releases gas at the press of a button.
Authorities detained four people, but initially only released three of them — holding Willet on suspicion that the woman, who was not identified, might not have committed suicide but could have been killed.
EDITOR’S NOTE — This story includes discussion of suicide. If you or someone you know needs help, the national suicide and crisis lifeline in the U.S. is available by calling or texting 988. There is also an online chat at 988lifeline.org. The Swiss government refers queries about suicide prevention to a group called “Dargebotene Hand,” or The Offered Hand.
A statement Monday from prosecutors said a criminal case was opened on Sept. 23, the day of the woman’s death, for suspected “inciting and abetting suicide” and a “strong suspicion of the commission of an intentional homicide.”
Although an autopsy report from experts in neighboring Zurich was not yet available, investigators no longer suspect intentional homicide, though there is “strong suspicion of the crime of inciting and abetting suicide," the statement said.
The statement said the suspect was released from custody though it didn't identify the suspect by name. Willet previously has spoken repeatedly to The Associated Press before his arrest and his colleagues have spoken out publicly in his defense in hopes of securing his release.
Prosecutors gave no further details, including whether the suspect was released conditionally and faced a continued criminal investigation over suspected incitement of suicide.
Calls by The AP to Willet’s mobile phone were not immediately answered.
Sarco developer Philip Nitschke of Exit International, a right-to-die group affiliated with The Last Resort, has said the allegations that the woman might have been strangled were “absurd. Nitschke said he watched by video during the woman’s death, in a wood in the Schaffhausen region near the German border, and that the device worked as planned.
The Sarco was designed to allow a person sitting in its reclining seat to push a button that injects nitrogen gas into the sealed chamber. The person is then supposed to fall unconscious and die by suffocation in a few minutes.
Swiss law allows assisted suicide so long as the person takes his or her life with no “external assistance” and those who help the person die do not do so for “any self-serving motive,” says a government website.
Switzerland is among the only countries where foreigners can travel to legally end their lives and has a number of organizations that are dedicated to helping people kill themselves.
Nitschke has repeatedly said Exit International’s Swiss lawyers had advised that use of the capsule would be legal in Switzerland.
FILE - Philip Nitschke enters a 'suicide pod' known as 'The Sarco' in Rotterdam, The Netherlands, July 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Ahmad Seir, File)
FILE - A 'suicide pod' known as 'The Sarco' is seen in Rotterdam, Netherlands, July 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Ahmad Seir, File)
The eldest son of President-elect Donald Trump arrived in Greenland on Tuesday for a private visit that heightened speculation that the incoming U.S. administration could seek to take control of the mineral-rich Danish territory that's home to a large U.S. military base.
The Danish state broadcaster reported that Donald Trump Jr.'s plane landed in Nuuk, capital of the vast and icy Arctic territory that has some 57,000 residents. Local media broadcast footage of him walking across a snowy tarmac.
In a statement, Greenland's government said Trump Jr.'s visit would take place “as a private individual” and not as an official visit and that Greenlandic representatives would not meet with him. Greenland is an autonomous territory that’s part of Denmark.
Trump Jr. is in Greenland for a day trip to shoot video content for podcasting, according to a person familiar with the plans who was not authorized to speak publicly.
Mininguaq Kleist, permanent secretary for the Greenland foreign affairs department, told The Associated Press that authorities were informed that Trump Jr. would stay for about four to five hours.
Neither Trump Jr.'s delegation nor Greenlandic government officials had requested a meeting, Kleist said.
The visit nonetheless had political overtones. The president-elect recently voiced a desire — also expressed during his first presidency — to acquire the territory in the Arctic, an area of strategic importance for the U.S, China, Russia and others.
The world’s largest island, Greenland sits between the Atlantic and Arctic oceans and is 80% covered by an ice sheet.
“I am hearing that the people of Greenland are ‘MAGA.’ My son, Don Jr., and various representatives, will be traveling there to visit some of the most magnificent areas and sights,” the president-elect posted on his social media site Monday night, referring to his “Make America Great Again” movement.
“Greenland is an incredible place, and the people will benefit tremendously if, and when, it becomes part of our nation,” Trump wrote. “We will protect it, and cherish it, from a very vicious outside world. MAKE GREENLAND GREAT AGAIN!”
Greenland’s Prime Minister Múte Egede has called for independence from Denmark, saying in a New Year’s speech that it would be a way for Greenland to free itself from its colonial past. But Egede has also said he has no interest in Greenland becoming part of the United States, insisting that the island is not for sale.
Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said Tuesday that the future of Greenland would be decided by Greenland, and called the United States Denmark’s most important ally.
Denmark’s King Frederik X has been asserting the kingdom's rights to Greenland as well as the Faroe Islands, a self-governing archipelago located between Iceland and Norway in the North Atlantic Ocean.
Last month, the king changed Denmark's coat of arms to include fields that represent Greenland and the Faroe Islands. Greenland is represented by a silver bear with red tongue. The royal announcement noted that since 1194, the royal coat of arms “visually symbolized the legitimacy and sovereignty of the state and the monarch.”
“We are all united and each of us committed for the Kingdom of Denmark,” the king said in his New Year’s address, adding: “all the way to Greenland.”
During his first term, the U.S. president-elect mused about purchasing Greenland, which gained home rule from Denmark in 1979. He canceled a scheduled trip to Denmark in August 2019 after its prime minister dismissed the idea.
Reviving the issue in a statement last month as he announced his pick for U.S. ambassador to Denmark, Trump wrote: “For purposes of national security and freedom throughout the world, the United States of America feels that the ownership and control of Greenland is an absolute necessity.”
Trump’s eldest son has become a prominent player in his father’s political movement and has served on his presidential transition team, helping to select the people who will staff the incoming White House.
FILE - Donald Trump Jr., speaks at a campaign rally, Nov. 5, 2024, in Grand Rapids, Mich. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)
FILE - A view of the village of Kangaamiut in Greenland, Wednesday, July 3, 2024. (Ida Marie Odgaard/Ritzau Scanpix via AP, File)
FILE - People walk in the town of Aasiaat, in western Greenland, located on its namesake island in the heart of Aasiaat Archipelago at the southern end of Disko Bay, in Greenland, Saturday, June 29, 2024. (Ida Marie Odgaard/Ritzau Scanpix via AP, File)
FILE - A view of the Danish fleet's frigate Triton, off the village of Attu in Greenland, Monday, July 1, 2024. (Ida Marie Odgaard/Ritzau Scanpix via AP, File)
FILE - A child plays in front of a residential block in Sisimiut, Greenland, Tuesday, July 2, 2024. (Ida Marie Odgaard/Ritzau Scanpix via AP, File)
FILE - Local residents walk in the settlement Attu, in the Qeqertalik municipality, western Greenland, Monday, July 1, 2024. (Ida Marie Odgaard/Ritzau Scanpix via AP, File)
