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* PRESS RELEASE *

29th April 2002

DIANE PRETTY JUDGEMENT

Dr. Michael Howitt Wilson, deputy chairman of ALERT, said in a statement today:

"The European Court of Human Rights has given a good airing to the arguments of Mrs. Pretty and of those who consider that assisted suicide is a right, but the duty of the State to protect life has rightly been emphasised.

People in the same situation as Mrs. Pretty can now be permitted to die in peace, and are protected from intervention by anyone seeking to persuade them that their lives are not worthwhile.

"The verdict upholds the value of everybody's life, at whatever stage."

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