Rapist and murderer granted right to die

A convicted rapist and murderer who has been imprisoned for almost three decades has been granted the right to die after doctors agreed his psychological condition was incurable, according to an official in Belgium.

Belgium’s justice minister approved Frank Van Den Bleeken’s transfer to a hospital where doctors will end his life, the official said yesterday.

The convict’s lawyer, Jos Vander Velpen, told Belgian television on Monday his client was “suffering unbearably”.