Spanish prison officers euthanize detainee ahead of trial

• Eugenio Sabau shot and injured four people, one of them a woman, in December.
• He was paraplegic and begged to be allowed to die while awaiting trial.
• Sabau’s right to ask for euthanasia was upheld by a Tarragona court.

A guy who shot and injured four people in December and was later hurt in a gunfight with the police was put to death on Tuesday in a Spanish prison. He was paraplegic and begged to be allowed to die while awaiting trial.

After many appeals by his victims, who argued that he should be brought to justice, were denied by the courts, the man was given an assisted death. Even the Constitutional Court was involved in the issue, but it declined to hear it because there had been no breach of fundamental rights.

Angry former security guard Eugen Sabau, 46, shot three of his coworkers, one of them was a woman, at the security services company he worked for in Tarragona, a city in northeastern Spain, and injured a police officer as he fled.

Tuesday at 6.30 p.m. local time, Sabau passed away, according to a Catalan regional government source.

Both Sabau’s attorney and the jail administration declined to comment.

Euthanasia was made legal in Spain just over a year ago. Before before, assisting someone in ending their life was punishable by up to 10 years in prison.

A tactical police force invaded the house where Sabau had barricaded himself with a collection of weapons and shot him multiple times.

The “Gunslinger of Tarragona,” as the Spanish media dubbed him, had one leg amputated and was left with tetraplegia. Because of his weak health and the constant suffering his wounds caused, he was unable to receive painkillers, which he claimed made his life intolerable.

Sabau’s right to ask for euthanasia was upheld by a Tarragona court in light of these facts.

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