Facebook blocks live broadcast of Alain Cocq's death

Alain Cocq wanted the world to see his agony live to make France and the world aware of the need to guarantee, by law, a dignified death to those terminally ill patients who do not wish to continue their suffering.

Despite the fact that this 57-year-old Frenchman had assured that he would not broadcast images that could hurt sensitivity, Facebook has prevented him.

The social network has blocked this Saturday the live broadcast that the activist suffering from a rare, incurable and degenerative disease began from the medicalized bed of his apartment in Dijon last midnight, when he abandoned his treatment and stopped feeding and hydrating to "turn off" slowly.

“Facebook blocks me from broadcasting videos until September 8.

The ball is in your court ”, Cocq announced on his account, in which he also published the address of the Paris headquarters of Facebook and encouraged his followers to express their rejection of this gesture.

The Frenchman has calculated that it will take at most four or five days to pass away, although his environment believes that it could be much less time, in view of the deterioration of his condition, so the blockade until the 8th imposed by Facebook means that probably You will not be able to fulfill your plan to broadcast the process live in this way.

As he had explained in an interview with this newspaper on Friday, a few hours before stopping his treatment, his idea was to show how he "turns off" but without emitting "garbage" images.

“There will be no trash images, this is not for peepers.

The camera will be positioned above my head and perhaps at torso level, but no more.

When they have to do me some care, the camera will be rotated.

The images will only be broadcast from the moment I wake up until sunset.

I don't want junk images.

They will be harsh images, but according to my personal modesty.

You will only see how I turn off ”.

Even so, for the social network it is a violation of its rules.

"Although we respect your decision to want to draw attention to this complex issue, based on the advice of experts we have taken steps to prevent the broadcast live from Alain's account, because our rules do not allow the representation of suicide attempts", a Facebook spokesperson told Agence France Presse.

Cocq has announced that it is looking for an alternative to continue its broadcast, something that it hopes to achieve in the next 24 hours.

Meanwhile, the activist for the rights of the disabled and for the right to die with dignity has asked for support to pressure the social network to change its mind.

“Do not hesitate to let Facebook know what you think of its iniquitous methods of discrimination and obstruction of freedom of expression, an inalienable right for every French and European citizen.

Call on your French and European deputies, your senators, the Government, the Presidency of the Republic to protest against the violation of this fundamental right by Facebook, to stop immediately, "wrote Cocq.

His last video dates from Friday night, just after he had eaten his last meal.

"I know that the days that await me are going to be very difficult, especially given the heat that has been announced, but I have made my decision and I am serene," he said once again.

In France, assisted suicide and euthanasia are not legal.

There is only the Claeys-Léonetti law on the end of life, which allows deep sedation of terminal patients, but only in those who suffer "a serious and incurable disease and whose vital prognosis is compromised in the short term."

Cocq wanted "medical help" so that his death would be quick and less painful, and for this he wrote to French President Emmanuel Macron, asking him to intercede to achieve an exception to the law.

On Friday, he received a response in his own handwriting from the president explaining that he could not "agree to his request" since what he is asking is "active help to die that, to this day, is not allowed in our country."

As a result of this response, Cocq began his plan to stop his treatment and broadcast his death, as a last “fight” for the right to a dignified death from which he will not be able to benefit.