Susan Austen has pleaded not guilty to aiding a suicide and importing a drug that can be used for euthanasia.<\/p>\n
The trial of euthanasia campaigner\u00a0Susan Austen begins in the High Court at Wellington on Monday.<\/p>\n
The 66-year-old retired Lower Hutt teacher\u00a0faces\u00a0one\u00a0charge of aiding Annemarie Niesje Treadwell\u200b\u00a0to commit suicide, and two charges of importing pentobarbitone, a sedative that could be used for euthanasia.<\/p>\n
Treadwell, who\u00a0died in Wellington in June 2016, aged 77, had\u00a0been a member of pro-euthanasia groups Voluntary Euthanasia Society and Exit International. She suffered from chronic pain,\u00a0arthritis, clinical depression, and short-term memory problems.<\/p>\n
The trial will be before a judge and jury in the High Court at Wellington.<\/p>\n
Austen was arrested after police admitted they used a drink-driving checkpoint to identify people who had attended a pro-euthanasia meeting in Maungaraki, Lower Hutt, in October 2016.<\/p>\n
READ MORE:<\/strong> The police operation, and Austen’s prosecution, added\u00a0fuel to the ongoing euthanasia debate.<\/p>\n A crowd-sourcing\u00a0campaign to raise funds for Austen’s defence, which aimed to raise\u00a0$50,000, had made more than $53,000 by Sunday afternoon.<\/p>\n Prominent Australian euthanasia proponent Philip Nitschke, director of Exit International,\u00a0said he was flying from Sydney to attend the trial, and planned\u00a0to focus the attention of the world’s media on it.<\/p>\n The euthanasia debate was brought to national attention in 2015 when terminally ill Wellington lawyer Lecretia\u200b Seales\u200b\u00a0went to the High Court to argue for\u00a0the right to choose to end her own life.<\/p>\n Euthanasia campaigner Philip Nitschke is travelling to Wellington for the trial, and hopes to draw the attention of the world’s media to it.<\/p>\n Justice David Collins said it was for\u00a0Parliament, not him, to decide on legalising\u00a0the right to die.<\/p>\n In December last year, ACT leader David Seymour’s\u00a0End\u00a0of\u00a0Life\u00a0Choice bill, which would\u00a0legalise\u00a0voluntary euthanasia, passed its first hurdle after Parliament voted to send it to a select committee by 76 votes to 44.<\/p>\n The bill would\u00a0give\u00a0people with a terminal illness or a grievous and irremediable medical condition the option of requesting assisted dying.<\/p>\n Submissions on the bill can be made until midnight, February 20.<\/p>\n –\u00a0Stuff<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Susan Austen has pleaded not guilty to aiding a suicide and importing a drug that can be used for euthanasia. The trial of euthanasia campaigner\u00a0Susan Austen begins in the High Court at Wellington on Monday. The 66-year-old retired Lower Hutt teacher\u00a0faces\u00a0one\u00a0charge of aiding Annemarie Niesje Treadwell\u200b\u00a0to commit suicide, and two charges of importing pentobarbitone, a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n
\n *\u00a0Police admit targeting euthanasia meeting<\/a><\/strong>
\n *\u00a0We know where you’ve been, police tell 76-year-old<\/a><\/strong>
\n *\u00a0Jury trial over assisted suicide<\/a><\/strong>
\n *\u00a0<\/strong>Susan Austen in court<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n