The contentious Sarco pod suicide took place in woodlands in 2024
Keystone / Ennio Leanza
The Swiss Federal Supreme Court has ruled that digital devices seized from a photographic journalist can be used to investigate the suspicious death of a woman in a ‘Sarco’ suicide capsule.
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In September 2024, police seized cameras, a drone, a mobile phone, and other electronic devices from a Dutch journalist in canton Schaffhausen. Officers were investigating an alleged unlawful assisted suicide of a woman.
+ How will the Sarco pod case impact Swiss assisted suicide laws?
A 64-year-old American woman, suffering from an immune disease, ended her life in the Sarco pod in a patch of woodland. The cantonal authorities had previously warned that anyone involved in using the capsule would face prosecution.
The photographer from the Dutch newspaper De Volkskrant, later described how she witnessed the suicide together with members of the assisted-dying organisation The Last Resort.
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The journalist argued that the data should be covered by source protection, saying that she was present in her capacity as a member of the media. But a Schaffhausen court dismissed her argument and said the devices could be examined.
+ Why liberal Switzerland is opposed to the Sarco suicide capsule
The Supreme Court has upheld that ruling, stating that the journalist is considered a suspect in the investigation into alleged incitement and aiding and abetting an unlawful suicide.
The argument of protecting journalistic sources was therefore ruled invalid.
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Arrests made over unauthorised use of suicide capsule in Switzerland
Adapted from German by AI/mga
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