Suicide pod activist takes his own life with assisted dying device after 'trauma' of murder arrest
3 June 2025, 08:05 | Updated: 3 June 2025, 10:56
A euthanasia activist has died in a suicide pod after police quizzed him over the death of a woman who used the same assisted dying service he advocated for.
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Dr Florian Willet, 47, who heavily advocated for the Swiss Sarco euthanasia capsule, was arrested by Swiss police in September last year.
He suffered a mental health crisis in the months that followed, according to Sarco capsule inventor Philip Nitschke.
He revealed that Mr Willet, a former media spokesman for euthanasia clinic Dignitas, was looking for help and admitted to a psychiatric hospital on two occasions before his death on May 5.
Mr Nitschke claimed Dr Willet died last month in Cologne "with the help of a specialised organisation", according to Dutch news outlet Volkskrant.
Mr Nitschke, director of pro euthanasia group Exit International, said: “Gone was his warm smile and self-confidence. In its place was a man who seemed deeply traumatised by the experience of incarceration and the wrongful accusation of strangulation."
Read more: Care homes and hospices must have right to opt out of assisted dying, MPs hear
“To describe Florian is to talk of a man who was thoughtful, caring, funny, and friendly. He was an easy person to be around," he said.
Mr Nitschke added: “But most of all, Florian was kind. Florian was also passionate about a person’s right to choose when to die.”
This comes after a 64-year-old woman - the first person to use a Sarco capsule - was found dead inside the pod. Police said strangulation marks were discovered on her neck.
Dr Willet was allegedly the only person present for the death of the woman. His role was to press a button to fill the Sarco pod with lethal nitrogen gas.
Suicide is legal under specific conditions in Switzerland, but there were warnings using the pod would be illegal.
The German national was later questioned for aiding and abetting suicide after he was arrested by Swiss police in September last year.
He was arrested alongside two lawyers and a photojournalist who had been taking pictures of the pod and documented the woman's arrival in the woodland.
The public prosecutor argued that there was "strong suspicion" that the woman's death was an "intentional homicide".
Dr Willet was quizzed over whether he had strangled the woman, but this was ruled out ahead of his release in December following 70 days of pre-trial detention.
He had described the first death in the Sarco capsule as “peaceful, fast and dignified”.
In an interview ahead of his arrest, he said: "By the age of five I took my own dying by suicide into consideration."
He shared how his father had died by suicide when he was 14 and argued he was “completely fine with it.”
The Samaritans can be contacted anonymously on 116123 or email jo@samaritans.org.
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