“I am not a murderer” : Bernard Pallot, 78, was acquitted on Wednesday October 31 in Troyes where he had been on trial since Monday for the murder of his sick wife Suzanne, whom he admits to having strangled, so that she would no longer suffer.
“This trial demonstrates the inadequacy of the law which puts us, individuals, in difficult situations”Bernard Pallot calmly explained after the verdict. “I am not alone in this case, the law absolutely must evolve. We are in the country of human rights, normally”added this retiree.
The right to die “is a freedom that we do not yet have”continued his lawyer, Frédéric Verra. The court “made it known that the acts had been committed. It's indisputable. But that on the other hand there was an excuse of irresponsibility, which was the constraint linked to the situation”he explained.
On October 11, 2021, this retired IUT professor, with a clean criminal record, injected cyanide into the thigh of his wife, whose life was not according to him. “more bearable”to kill her, without succeeding. SO, “in improvisation”he grabbed a piece of electrical wire from the garage of their home in Isle-Aumont and held it around his neck for around twenty minutes. “It seems a bit wild as a method, but I had no choice”he said during the investigation.
“It was I who killed my wife”
When the gendarmes arrived, the training engineer declared: “I was the one who killed my wife. » He claims to have acted “for love” et “at his request” pour “prevent her from suffering”.
But for the attorney general, Mickaël Le Nouy, this assassination, “presented as a gesture of love, is a gesture prohibited by law” et “we cannot arrogate to ourselves the right to kill”. Bernard Pallot, tried before the Aube Assize Court, “acted in a determined, cold and violent manner”had estimated the Advocate General. He had requested eight years in prison.
The defense had summoned Olivier Falorni, general rapporteur of the end-of-life bill whose examination was suspended by the dissolution of the National Assembly, but he did not appear, not wishing to “put pressure on the court”regretted the lawyer of the accused.
If euthanasia were legal, “Bernard Pallot would not have strangled his wife with an electric wire”argued the lawyer.
Suzanne Pallot, also in her seventies, suffered from several pathologies, notably Carrington's disease, a chronic lung disease, and osteoporosis, with multiple fractures, including one of the neck of the femur which occurred shortly before the events.
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“He did what she wanted and not what he wanted”
During interrogation, Bernard Pallot affirmed that for him it was a « euthanasia » requested by his wife, to whom he had been married since 1969. Near his body, a note was found: “I, the undersigned, Pallot Suzanne, still of sound mind, ask my husband, Bernard Pallot, to relieve me definitively of the incurable suffering that I endure. »
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The retiree claims to understand the seriousness of his act “with respect to the laws of the Republic”but believes he has “kept his promises” towards his wife. According to him, Suzanne, whom he looked after on a daily basis, did not want to return to the hospital where she felt “badly surrounded”.
To a friend, the accused will say: “In France we cannot euthanize people who are suffering, but we do it for animals. »
As part of the investigation, an expert psychologist described a form of submission by the husband towards his wife, whom he did not dare to contradict or reason with. “He did what she wanted and not what he wanted”estimated a psychologist expert on Wednesday.
On the day she died, Suzanne said goodbye to her only son over the phone. Before the investigating judge, this son declared that his father had murdered his mother “out of love, out of compassion”. “I am not a murderer, if I am convicted, we will have confused love and hatred”declared the accused before the court withdrew to decide his fate.
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