“The right to die”? On voluntary retirement and related obligations of the state. A study based on the law enforcement practice of the Highest Courts of Germany and the ECHR

The article examines the problems of the “right to death” – a constitutional and legal guarantee that recognizes the right of a person to end his own life at his discretion. This issue was initially considered as a downside, a kind of negative dimension of the right to life (Part 2 of Article 2 of the Basic Law of Germany). However, the focus has changed over time; the discussion is currently being conducted in the context of the right to personal self-determination. Within the framework of this article, the analysis is carried out on the basis of the law enforcement practice of the highest courts of Germany and the European Court of Human Rights. The point of contact of the German courts can be considered the recognition of the right to voluntary retirement as an act of individual self-expression, the realization of personal choice. The legal structure of the right to personal self-determination presupposes the establishment of a close connection between the right to general freedom of action (Part 1 of Article 2 of the Basic Law of the Federal Republic of Germany) and the guarantee of human dignity in accordance with Part 1 of Article 1 of the Basic Law of the Federal Republic of Germany. At the same time, the counterargument is not considered convincing, according to which the recognition of the “right to death” entails the impossibility of further personal self-realization and therefore contradicts the “life-affirming” spirit of the Basic Law, expressed, in particular, in part 2 of Article 2, since the very realization of the desire to end life is considered as an act of self-realization, which falls under constitutional protection. This constitutional and legal concept, developed by the Constitutional Court of the Federal Republic of Germany, is shared by the rest of the highest judicial instances of Germany, which complement it, in particular, by establishing state obligations to assist persons who wish to voluntarily end their own lives. The European Court of Human Rights has not yet had the opportunity to express its position on this issue, however, trends in the development of its law enforcement practice indicate that it is likely sooner or later to join the legal line of the German courts. The author identifies the argumentative shortcomings of the fundamental prerequisites for justifying the right to voluntary retirement, demonstrating not only their internal inconsistency, but also the inadmissibility of the consequences that state support for suicidal aspirations of citizens will lead to.