“Ultime Liberté” Trial: A trial Revealing an Extremist Project
Monday 15th September saw the beginning of the trial of twelve militants from “Ultime Liberté” (ultimate freedom) who helped people, whether sick or not, to procure a barbiturate for the purpose of ending their days. Through this trial, widely broadcast in the media, the association which was created in 2009 hopes to publicise its demands for assisted suicide. They go much further than what is intended in the proposed bill on the end of life which is due to be examined shortly by the French Senate.
A trial to change the law
The main lawyer of the defendants, Me Arnaud Lévy-Soussan, is quite clear. This hearing “is an opportunity for informing public opinion on the issues of the end of life”, according to statements reported in Ouest-France. The date of the trial could not have been better chosen since the proposed bill which aims to establish “assisted dying” which was adopted by the National Assembly last May is due to be examined in the upper house during October.
The events date back to October 2019, when the criminal investigation department discovered an illegal network for importing pentobarbital, a powerful barbiturate, from Mexico to France. A dose of two grams of which can cause death for an adult. In total, 145 people have made use of the network to order pentobarbital. Some thirty of them have since died. Essentially, these people are from a higher social standing and relatively old since virtually 80 % of them are over 70.
Aged between 74 and 89 years old, Ultime Liberté members are being prosecuted for having actively “accompanied” people to end their life, in particular by informing them on the way to procure pentobarbital, or even by helping them to place the order using their computer. Among them, Claude Hury, the co-founder of the association, says she is “very confident” and “ready to pay the price”: “all the actions which I am being accused of, I performed through empathy and in the name of the freedom of everyone to make use of their own body until death, which is a fundamental right”, according to the statements reported in La Croix.
The first witness heard, Andrée Le Bras, 78 years old, fully assumes her involvement to help her 82-year-old cousin suffering from pancreatic cancer to end her days.
Prior to the start of the trial, members of the association demonstrated in front of the Paris courts. Monique Denis, the wife of one of the defendants, is quite clear about her expectations regarding the trial: “We are quite satisfied that there is a trial to be able to reveal (the subject) to public opinion, and perhaps also that public opinion will take a stand in favour of a change in the law”, as she stated to AFP (French Press Agency).
The militants enjoy the support of several personalities who are due to be heard during the trial, such as the essayist François de Closets, the ex-director of the National Centre for palliative care and the end of life (CNSPFV) Véronique Fournier, the philosopher André Comte-Sponville and the ex-parliamentarian Jean-Louis Touraine.
Extremist claims
Although the debate on the text on “assisted dying” is due to take place shortly in the Senate, one should not be duped into thinking that the adoption of this text, which claims to restrict the access to assisted suicide or euthanasia to people suffering from a serious and incurable condition which is threatening their life expectancy, would give total satisfaction to the militants at Ultime Liberté. Indeed, their claims go much further, assuming an ultra-individualistic vision based on the right without limitation to make use of their own body from the beginning to the end of their life.
As explained by Claude Hury in La Croix, the association was created in 2009 as a breakaway from the ADMD (Association for the right to die with dignity): “We considered that ADMD did not go far enough in the fight. We, on the other hand, defend a right for all to assisted suicide, even in the absence of an incurable disease, and we advocate for people who so wish, to freely put an end to their days.”
The claims by the association are presented in their press file The end of life in France and worldwide accessible freely on their web site:
- Suicide must be recognised as “a citizen’s freedom”.
- Any French adult citizen should have access to assisted suicide, whether or not at their end of life.
- The judicial arsenal for suicide prevention must be completely overhauled, in particular the 1987 law which punishes the incitement to suicide.
The association challenges the pathological aspect of suicide and is against psychiatric treatment for those facing a suicidal crisis situation.
Also, although most of those having resorted to the illegal network for importing pentobarbital were aged, it is not the case for them all. Thus, among those who died, is the case of Lucas J., 25 years old, suffering from depression according to his loved ones and who was found dead in 2018.
It is not surprising that personalities such as André Comte-Sponville or Jean-Louis Touraine are to speak out at the trial. André Comte-Sponville has for a long time been a defended the right to “IVV (intentional interruption of life) and considers the “right to die” as a right of man. In an interview for France Inter in 2023, he pleaded for a right to assisted suicide or euthanasia irrespective of age, even for those not at their end of life, and called for it in particular for the aged, stating that he wished to benefit from it before entering a care home. On his part Jean-Louis Touraine published a video on social media in May 2025 [1] revealing his true intentions and his strategy for a gradual extension of the possibility of resorting to euthanasia and assisted suicide: “We must obtain as much as possible and especially, once we have a foot in the door, we must come back every year and say: “we want to extend such and such.” In the video, he regrets in particular that in the proposed bill, the possibility of resorting to euthanasia or assisted suicide is not available to minors, to those suffering from psychiatric conditions or from Alzheimer’s disease.
Against those who wish to use the Ultime Liberté trial as a platform to influence the debates on the establishment of “assistance in dying” opening the possibility of assisted suicide and euthanasia, Alliance VITA wishes to alert about the true intentions of the Ultime Liberté association which is challenging the entire French legislative arsenal for suicide prevention. Alliance VITA repeats that suicide prevention is a universal principle and warns against the legalisation of assisted suicide which would be tantamount to the exclusion of some categories of patients from suicide prevention.
[1] During the public hearing organised by the Le Choix (Choice) association, on 30th November 2024.
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