A “hand in hand” ending.
Former Prime Minister of the Netherlands Dries van Agt died on Monday February 5 in Nijmegen (Netherlands) at the same time as his wife Eugénie van Agt-Krekelberg as part of an assisted suicide procedure, reports the Dutch daily From Telegraaf.
The couple was 93 years old, the news was announced Friday by The Rights Forum, the organization he founded in 2009 on the Israeli-Palestinian question.
His state of health suddenly deteriorated in 2019 after he suffered a cerebral hemorrhage.
Eugénie van Agt had also been suffering from poor health for several months.
They had lived together for 70 years.
Their funerals were organized in family privacy, without further details of their deaths being communicated.
Assisted suicide has been legal since 2002 in the Netherlands.
A “great-great-grandfather in office” for Rutte
Dries van Agt had been Dutch Prime Minister between 1977 and 1982, having previously been Minister of Justice since 1971. A lawyer by training, he had practiced in Eindhoven, before becoming a professor of law at the Catholic University of Nijmegen in 1968 to 1971. He left his teaching job to join the government.
He was in fact involved in the Catholic People's Party (KVP), which has since become the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA).
Outgoing Prime Minister Mark Rutte said he was saddened by the death of the man he called his “practicing great-great-grandfather”.
“The death of Dries van Agt and his inseparable Eugénie, with whom he was united in love until the end, is sad.
Dries van Agt remained completely authentic throughout his life,” responded the Dutch head of government.
King Willem-Alexander, Queen Máxima and Princess Beatrix also remember Dries Van Agt “with great respect,” they said in a statement.
“He assumed administrative responsibilities in a period of turbulence and managed to inspire many people with his striking personality,” insisted the members of the Dutch royal family.