Alex Schot can count on the support of dozens of sympathizers next Wednesday. The court in Den Bosch will then consider the Eindhoven resident again in a non-substantive session. He is suspected, among other things, of assisted suicide by selling suicide powder. The Brave Citizens Support Group will support Schot both before and during the court case.
The action group was founded a year ago by Hans Peltenburg from Gouda. He and Schot are members of the Coöperatie Laatste Wil (CLW), an organization that advocates for self-determination around the deathbed.
“Seventy people are coming to the trial.”
Peltenburg: “During a meeting of the CLW I announced the establishment of my support group. Our newsletter now has two hundred subscribers. Fifty people have also announced that they will participate in a demonstrative procession from the station to the court next Wednesday. Another twenty people have agreed to come to the trial.”
“I want to help people who make the drug available out of idealism. Alex is one of them, I see him as a brave man, “the Gouwenaar adds. Schot was arrested in July 2021. Although the Eindhoven resident has long been free, the Public Prosecution Service still suspects him of supplying the suicide powder Drug X to hundreds of people via Marktplaats. He is also linked to 33 suicides.
With his trade in a suicide powder, Schot would have earned 55,000 euros. Formally, he would also have violated the Medicines Act by selling an antiemetic that is needed for Drug X. The Eindhoven resident is also accused of money laundering because he lived on his income.
“I don’t think the provision of the drug was dangerous.”
Peltenburg does not blame him. “The drug was only provided to people over the age of eighteen and who were mentally competent. I don’t think it was dangerous, I hardly know any cases of people who have suffered unnecessary pain from using the drug. And why launder? He could have made a lot more out of it if he wanted to.”
Randy Knol of the foundation Ximena’s Butterfly reacts with irritation to the announced action and the explanation of Peltenburg. “How sad! I think it is not brave at all to make deadly means available to thousands of Dutch people without knowledge of the facts and without knowledge of the people involved and therefore without any sense of responsibility,” says Ximena’s father from Uden. This woman took her own life in 2018 at the age of 19 by taking a suicide powder that she obtained via the internet.
“You risk the death of hundreds of Dutch people.”
“If one percent of the people who received that drug, which is an underestimate, are in a vulnerable psychological situation, then you risk the death of hundreds of Dutch people. I have nothing against euthanasia, but you don’t dispose of someone else’s life yourself,” says Knol.
With his foundation Ximena’s Butterfly, he stands up for young people who have plans to end their lives. The foundation is also in contact with relatives of people who have used the controversial drug.
Talking about suicidal thoughts helps and can be done via, for example 113 Suicide Prevention (0800 0113).
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