The European Court of Human Rights has ruled against Daniel Karsai, a terminally ill man seeking the right to die in Hungary. The court found Hungary's ban on euthanasia didn't breach the European Convention on Human Rights. DW met with Karsai ahead of the verdict.
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00:00I can't do anything independently anymore, dress, undress, eat, drink or turn over in
00:11bed."
00:12ALS makes Daniel's life harder day by day.
00:19His diagnosis with the nervous system disease shocked him.
00:23He often thinks about the active life he once had.
00:27One of his passions was the Japanese martial art Jiu Jitsu.
00:31In this video he was fighting for the brown belt.
00:35He used to work as a constitutional lawyer and as a renowned expert he regularly gave
00:40TV interviews on human rights issues.
00:44Nowadays he is only mentally active, but he's decided to fight to make assisted suicide
00:50legal in Hungary, in the media and also in front of the court.
00:55He argues that ALS is extremely humiliating, as the last stage of the disease practically
01:01leaves a person in a vegetative state, without any possibility of conscious activity or communication.
01:09When it comes to no longer being able to communicate with my loved ones, it's a feeling of confinement,
01:19without any meaning and therefore without any dignity.
01:26The hero, the fighter, this is what they call him in the Hungarian press.
01:32His example started a new debate about assisted suicide in Hungarian public discourse.
01:41It's great that it moved so many people, but it's sad that a significant part of the political
01:47elite remained silent.
01:52That is why he took his case to the European Court of Human Rights, suing the Hungarian
01:57state.
01:58For the first hearing in November 2023, he was still able to travel to Strasbourg.
02:05He gave the first arguments in his case.
02:08He knows the court well.
02:10He used to work there in the early 2000s.
02:14I am not the only one facing this dark stage of life.
02:22Among the people like me, dying peacefully is only a privilege for the few.
02:33Daniel's brother Peter has always been close to his brother.
02:36He says he'd be ready to help with the assisted suicide if Daniel wanted it and it were legal.
02:43We don't feel like we're miserable, always sitting in the corner and crying because
02:48Dani is terminally ill, because there's always something to do.
02:52In my case, it distracts us from the drama we experience every day.
03:02Daniel hopes with his case, he can also help others.