“The fight for human rights is never a paved road, I thank everyone, because today “Ecuador is a country a little more hospitable, free and dignified,” he said at a virtual press conference Paola Roldanafter the Constitutional Court of Ecuador ruled in their favor.

Roldan suffers from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, an incurable and fatal disease.

Unconstitutionality claim

An emblem of the fight for the right to die with dignity, last year he filed a lawsuit challenging the unconstitutionality of Article 144 of the Criminal Code, which He sentenced anyone who helped the man die to 13 years in prison.

Roldan and his lawyers convinced the court of the need to decriminalize euthanasia. The decision, by a vote of seven in favor of nine justices, cleared the way for doctors to help a sick person die without going to jail.

A demand that, according to Farit Simon, one of his lawyers, is shared by the majority of Ecuadorians:

The public discussion that has opened has made it clear that the country has a generally favorable position regarding the possibility of people who decide to die well to die with dignity.

“Immediate Execution”

Simon noted at the joint press conference that the court’s decision is “immediate compliance” and that it is a “milestone” for the traditionally conservative nation with a Catholic majority.

The court decision clarifies that the sanction for murder cannot be applied to a doctor conducting an active euthanasia procedure in order to preserve the right to a dignified life.