Spain: a paraplegic is sacrificed before his trial for attempted murder

A man paralyzed from a shooting in which he shot four people was sacrificed this Tuesday in Spain, before his trial, an unprecedented decision in the country where the right to die prevails over judicial procedures.

“In accordance with the euthanasia planned for today (Tuesday), Mr. Marin Eugene Sabu has died at 6:30 p.m. at the Terrassa hospital”, in northeastern Spain, his lawyer announced in a statement.

Marin Eugen Sabau, 46, a Romanian security guard, shot three colleagues and a police officer in December, injuring several people but none dead, in Tarragona before being shot in the spine that left him paralyzed.

“The Tarragona Shooter”

The man dubbed by the Spanish press as “the Tarragona shooter” said he acted because he was experiencing “hell” at work and accused his bosses of racism. Since then he had been bedridden in the Terrassa prison hospital, near Barcelona, ​​and demanded the right to die.

“I’m a paraplegic. I have 45 stitches in my hand. I can’t move my left arm. I have screws (in my body) and I can’t feel my chest anymore,” he explained to the investigating judge. the Tarragona court, which had ruled in his favor at the beginning of July.

The court did not oppose his request for euthanasia, estimating in early July that it was a “fundamental right” and that “the law does not specifically regulate euthanasia when it comes to people in preventive detention or who are the subject of legal proceedings “.

frustrated victims

The lawyers for the civil parties wanted a trial so that the defendants would compensate the victims. “The victims have a feeling of frustration: it has been left to one person to decide when and how to end the judicial process,” said José Antonio Bitos, a lawyer for two policemen wounded (one by bullets, the other in pursuit). .

“We were not opposed to euthanasia itself, but to the fact that it took place before the trial,” he insisted, regretting not having been able “to see this man sitting on the bench.”

He points out that while his clients will obtain compensation from the public administration because they were injured on duty, the other victims of the shooting “will not have a trial or compensation.”

The law that authorizes euthanasia entered into force on June 25, 2021 in Spain, becoming the fourth European country to decriminalize it, after the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg.