
A French appeals court on Saturday partially overturned the acquittal of a French emergency room doctor for the poison deaths of seven terminally ill patients, handing him a suspended two-year sentence.
A lower court had acquitted Nicolas Bonnemaison last year in an emotionally-charged trial that gripped a country where euthanasia is illegal.
The appeals court in the western city of Angers found Bonnemaison, 54, guilty of deliberately killing one of the seven, an 86-year-old woman.
Bonnemaison, his head lowered, did not react as the verdict was read out on Saturday.
The public prosecutor had sought a five-year suspended sentence. Bonnemaison had faced a maximum of life imprisonment.
The acquittal came just a day after France's highest administrative court authorised ending the life of a quadriplegic in a vegetative state, a landmark decision that divided his family and was immediately blocked by the European Court of Human Rights pending a review of the case.
Bonnemaison, who has been struck off the medical register, was accused of "poisoning particularly vulnerable people" -- five women and two men who died between March 2010 and July 2011 soon after being admitted to the hospital in the southwestern city of Bayonne where he worked.
Euthanasia remains illegal in France despite recent efforts to ease legislation dealing with the terminally ill -- a campaign promise by President Francois Hollande.
In March, lawmakers voted overwhelmingly in favour of a law allowing medics to place terminally ill patients in a deep sleep until they die.
GMT 18:35 2018 Thursday ,11 January
Syrian refugee sets himself ablaze at UN office in LebanonGMT 18:48 2018 Tuesday ,09 January
Novo Nordisk woos Belgian nano-drug makerGMT 17:54 2017 Wednesday ,27 December
Medical evacuations begin from besieged Syria rebel bastionGMT 12:14 2017 Monday ,25 December
MoHAP successfully conducts cochlear implant operationGMT 18:24 2017 Sunday ,24 December
Palestinian conjoined twins arrive in RiyadhGMT 19:05 2017 Monday ,18 December
new! magazine names fitness & food editorGMT 17:03 2017 Wednesday ,29 November
Spain reports case of 'mad cow disease'GMT 14:05 2017 Saturday ,11 November
EU can't agree on new licence for controversial glyphosate weedkiller
Maintained and developed by Arabs Today Group SAL.
All rights reserved to Arab Today Media Group 2025 ©
Maintained and developed by Arabs Today Group SAL.
All rights reserved to Arab Today Media Group 2025 ©
Send your comments
Your comment as a visitor