A court in Spain has ruled that a paraplegic shooting suspect can avoid trial by choosing to die by assisted suicide.
On December 14, Romanian security guard, Marin Eugen Sabau, entered his former workplace in disguise and reportedly opened fire on his colleagues, seriously injuring three of them, as well as severely wounding a police officer.
The 46-year-old, who worked at a security company in Tarragona in eastern Spain, was later shot in the spine by police, causing him to now be in a 'serious and incurable' condition.
The court claims that euthanasia is a 'fundamental right', in which they could not interfere. Euthanasia was made legal in Spain in June last year.
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For those unaware, euthanasia is the painless act of deliberately ending a person's life to relieve suffering.
Antonio Bitos, the lawyer representing the wounded officer, said: "The national court’s decision is erroneous.
"It hasn’t taken into account the victims’ suffering nor their dignity."
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In a statement released from the prison hospital at Terrassa in east Catalonia in July, Sabau said: "I’m paraplegic. I’ve got 45 stitches in one hand and I can barely move my left arm. I’m full of screws and I can’t feel my chest."
Attempting to justify his actions, he said that his bosses made his life 'a living hell'.
Prior to the attack he reportedly sent an email to his co-workers, which read: "I’ve got no option, I will take the law into my own hands. Lessons learned with blood aren’t easily forgotten."
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The court said that his current condition 'involves constant physical and psychological suffering without any possibility of relief and he faces the prospect of a very limited life'.
However, it was also stated that the shooter had caused 'pain as well as physical and moral damage to his victims'.
"We have a problem," Mireia Ruiz, a lawyer for one of the injured workers previously said.
"We don’t know if we have enough time.
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"We are not denying his right to euthanasia but want the exercising of that right to be postponed until after the trial."
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Anish Vij