Overview
- Paris judges opened proceedings against 12 members of Ultime Liberté, including physician Bernard Senet, on charges tied to importing, trafficking and illicit possession of the lethal barbiturate pentobarbital.
- The inquiry started in 2019 after a U.S. alert about an online supply chain shipping pentobarbital from Mexico in bottles labeled “Natural Cosmetics.”
- A nationwide operation in October 2019 saw more than 125 addresses searched, with investigators seizing flasks and buyer lists linked to orders placed largely by elderly or gravely ill people.
- Authorities say defendants used encrypted messaging to explain how to obtain the drug, while the investigating judge found they provided information to applicants and “accompanied” decisions rather than seeking to induce suicide.
- The trial is scheduled to run until 9 October with philosophers and medical experts expected to testify, and no civil parties have been admitted because purchasers sought the substance themselves.