Dignitas founder ends his own life through assisted death

Ludwig Minelli, whose work had a lasting influence on Swiss law, founded the group in 1998

The head of the Swiss right-to-die organisation Dignitas chose to end his life through an assisted death, the group has said.

Ludwig Minelli, who founded the group in 1998, died on Saturday, days before his 93rd birthday, Dignitas said.

Dignitas said it would “continue to manage and develop the association in the spirit of its founder as a professional and combative international organisation for self-determination and freedom of choice in life and at the end of life”.

Minelli, a lawyer by trade, faced many legal challenges and made several successful appeals to the Swiss supreme court and the European court of human rights (ECHR).