Facebook blocks live-stream of euthanasia campaigner Alain Cocq’s death
- Frenchman suffers from an incurable condition and wanted to broadcast his death on Facebook
- Facebook said its rules did not allow it to portray suicide
Alain Cocq, who has been suffering for 34 years from a rare and incurable degenerative disease, said he would find another way to broadcast his death. He has stopped taking food, drink or medicine, and says he wants his death to be seen to help persuade French authorities to lift a ban on medically assisted suicide.
“While we respect Alain’s decision to draw attention to this important issue, we are preventing live broadcasts on his account based on the advice of experts that the depiction of suicide attempts could be triggering and promote more self-harm,” Facebook said in a statement.
Cocq, 57 had said he would live-stream his death on Facebook from Saturday morning. After Facebook blocked it, he said a new means of livestreaming would be set up. Cocq suffers from a rare condition which causes the walls of his arteries to stick together.
“So I have finished my last meal ... I drink to your health one last time. The road to deliverance begins and, believe me, I am happy,” Cocq said in a video posted on Friday night and shot from his bed at his home in Dijon, eastern France.
“I have made up my mind and I am at peace,” he added.
He had written to French President Emmanuel Macron asking that medical professionals be allowed to assist his death. Macron wrote back saying this was not allowed under French law.