‘Deacon of Death’ Ivo Poppe released six years after conviction for five murders (Wevelgem)

Ivo Poppe, the 67-year-old ‘Deacon of Death’ from Wevelgem who was sentenced to 27 years in prison in 2018 for five murders, has been released from prison. This was reported by the Krant van West-Vlaanderen and was confirmed to our editors by his lawyer Filip De Reuse.

Source: Newspaper of West Flanders

Today at 10:14

On February 1, 2018, the then 61-year-old Ivo Poppe was convicted of the murders of his mother, his father-in-law, two great-uncles and a patient. The Bruges court of assizes imposed a prison sentence of 27 years on him at the time, but this week Poppe was released again “for medical reasons”. He was picked up by his former wife on Tuesday evening. “I am relieved and happy for Ivo,” his lawyer Filip De Reuse responds Newspaper of West Flanders.

“His condition is very serious,” De Reuse explains to our editors. “It concerns a conditional release for medical reasons, they don’t just do that. My client already had cancer when he was convicted and the disease has since spread further. He can still go to family, who have always supported him, but he will probably mainly stay in the hospital for examinations.”

Euthanasia

At the end of 2013, the gruesome facts came to light: the former deacon of Wevelgem had himself told a psychiatrist how he had performed euthanasia on dozens of people while he was working at the Sint-Joris Hospital in Menen. He did this, among other things, by injecting a large amount of air into the veins. The court in Kortrijk started an investigation, after which Ivo Poppe ended up in jail in May 2014 on suspicion of a whole series of murders.

His health had been deteriorating for a long time: he battled prostate cancer, he also suffered from kidney stones and he was admitted to the infirmary of the Bruges prison several times over the past ten years. The sentencing court now ruled that there is no longer a guarantee that he can serve his sentence in “humane conditions”. Two weeks ago his lawyer applied for his release. Because Poppe had already served almost ten years, or more than a third of his sentence, he was eligible for this.

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