Veneto pensioner commits assisted suicide in Swiss clinic

Pfäffikon, February 28 - A 65-year-old pensioner from Veneto, Gianni Trez, committed assisted suicide on Tuesday at the same Swiss clinic where Dj Fabo died. "He did not suffer. He was serene. My daughter and I held his hands until the end," said Trez's wife, Emanuela Di Sanzo. She thanked the staff at the Dignitas death-with-dignity clinic at Pfäffikon, near Zurich and volunteers from the AVAPO association. She also made an appeal to Italian lawmakers to "pass a law to prevent these cruel pilgrimages". The death of Fabo, a 40-year-old left blind and tetraplegic by a 2015 car crash, has sparked an intense debate on end-of-life issues in Catholic Italy, with conservatives and the Church voicing regret and liberals praising him.