A Dutch doctor has been convicted of assisting suicide in a test case that sought to define the limits of euthanasia in the Netherlands, the first country to make it legal.
An appeals court in Amsterdam found physician Philip Sutorius guilty but did not give him a jail sentence, court spokeswoman Liesbeth Dubois said.
Euthanasia supporters criticised the verdict, saying it too narrowly defined the medical justification for euthanasia, and hoped the doctor would appeal to the country's highest court.
Mr Sutorius aided former Senator Edward Brongersma in taking his life in 1998. Mr Brongersma was suffering from incontinence, dizziness and immobility and said he was tired of life.
The reason he was found guilty was because he did not act for medical reasons, but rather because the patient was tired of life, Ms Dubois said.
But the court did not sentence him because he acted out of compassion for his patient and because the court viewed this as a test case by the prosecutor.
Although the assisted suicide happened before the law was enacted, the court considered the current law in its judgment, Ms Dubois said.