Penal Code
Euthanasia can be classified as manslaughter (art. 393), murder (art. 394) or poisoning (art. 397) of the Belgian Penal Code.
Assisted suicide and the provision of lethal drugs can be punished, based on the notion that it is a citizen’s duty to help a person in great danger. This is laid down in articles 422bis and 422ter of the Penal Code. A person who does not fulfill this duty can be punished by 8 days to a year imprisonment.
With the introduction of the Law regarding euthanasia, the question arose whether this law also covered assisted suicide, as assisted suicide is not explicitly mentioned in the Belgium euthanasia law. This question is answered positively by the Belgian Council of state (Raad van State), the order of physicians and the Belgian review committees.