Woman who murdered children euthanised in Belgium
Geneviève Lhermitte was euthanised after unbearable psychological suffering because she killed her children. Photo Facebook, VTM NIEUWS
Western Europe
The Belgian Geneviève Lhermitte, who killed her five children, passed away by euthanasia on Tuesday, exactly 16 years after she committed the murder.
The 56-year-old woman had been admitted to the Leonardo da Vinci Hospital in Charleroi because of her severe depression. While in the hospital, she asked for euthanasia on the grounds of unbearable psychological suffering. Her request was granted and carried out last Tuesday, the Belgian news website Nieuwsblad reports.
Lhermitte's mother tells Sudinfo that her daughter had been in unbearable pain for 16 years. "Certainly, Geneviève was helped by psychiatrists during these years; she was listened to by the medical profession, and she was taking medication. But all this never gave her back her children. That was what her suffering was, having lost her children. Her goal was to join them."
Psychological treatment
Lhermitte killed her children on February 28, 2007. Yasmine (15), Nora (12), Myriam (10), Mina (7) and Mehdi (3) died in their home in Nijvel after their mother slid their throats in the bathroom. The father of the children was staying abroad at that moment.
The psychiatrists who examined Lhermitte concluded that she had been mentally incompetent at the moment of the murder. They advised the judge to sentence the woman to compulsory psychological treatment. However, the Belgian jury did not listen to that advice and ruled that Lhermitte should get a life sentence in prison, VRT.be writes.
In 2019, Lhermitte was released under the condition that she would be admitted to a mental hospital to be treated. She would receive help to reintegrate into society after that. However, in the meantime, the woman relapsed into severe depression again. In September 2021, she attempted to commit suicide already.
Death penalty
However, the Swedish Clapham Institute is critical of the Belgian permission for Lhermitte to be euthanised. The Christian think tank and research institute writes on Twitter that the West says to have abolished the death penalty. "But now, Belgium has practically re-introduced it again under the name of euthanasia. What a sad consequence of the euthanasia train."
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