Dignitas founder ends his own life through assisted death at 92

The head of the Swiss right-to-die organisation Dignitas has ended his life through an assisted death, the group has said.

- Hannah Devlin

Ludwig Minelli, who founded the group in 1998, died on Saturday, days before his 93rd birthday.

The organisation said: “Right up to the end of his life, he continued to search for further ways to help people to exercise their right to freedom of choice and self-determination in their ‘final matters’ - and he often found them.” Dignitas said it would “continue to manage and develop the association in the spirit of its founder as a professional and combative international organisation for self-determination and freedom of choice in life and at the end of life”.

Minelli, a journalist turned lawyer, faced many legal challenges and made successful appeals to the Swiss supreme court and the European court of human rights (ECHR).