Seven right-to-die campaigners, all over the age of 70, will appear in court in Arnhem on Monday, charged with encouraging people to use a “suicide powder” to end their lives.

Several of the seven are members of the Last Will Cooperative which believes everyone has the right to end their lives at the time of their choosing and has long campaigned for an end-of-life pill.

The seven are said by the public prosecution department to be members of a “criminal organisation” due to the structured way they worked to distribute the cocktail of drugs that make up the powder known as “substance x” in legal documents.

The seven are all said to have their “own role” within the organisation, which organised meetings at people’s homes to provide information about the right to die. However, the public prosecution department says they went further than providing information, which in itself is not illegal, and some also supplied the chemical powders.

The unnamed powder is used in the chemical industry and when ingested it can take up to 40 hours to die. Selling the powder is not an offence in itself unless the purpose is to help someone take their own life. Under Dutch law, it is illegal to help someone to die, unless a doctor acts under the strict terms of euthanasia legislation. 

Last July another cooperative member, Alex S was jailed for 3.5 years, for distributing the powder, which is said to have been involved in at least 10 suicides. 

Meanwhile, a group of people whose relatives killed themselves by taking the powder have called for a ban on substance x and say they plan to start legal action against the government if it does not do so.

Randy Knol, chairman of the foundation Ximena’s Vlinder, told the Parool that the state is partly responsible for the death of people killed by the powder for failing to act earlier and to continue to approve its use in the food industry. 

“The compound was unknown as a suicide aid until 2017, but since it has been praised by the Last Will Cooperative it is a problem worldwide,” Knol told the paper. 

The foundation was set up in 2013 and now has some 30,000 members, most of whom joined when the cooperative went public about substance x.

Anyone struggling with suicidal thoughts can talk or chat anonymously with the helpline 113.nl or call the free number 0800-0113.