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Swedish man uses webcam to broadcast suicide live on internet
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October 12, 2010
Original URL: http://en.wikinews.org/wiki/Swedish_man_uses_webcam_to_broadcast_suicide_live_on_internet

A 21-year-old Swedish man killed himself and broadcast it over the
internet via his webcam feed Monday, after posting to a message board
that he had swallowed some painkillers and was going to hang himself.

At 11:51 a.m. Central European Summer Time (0951 UTC), Marcus Jannes, a
student from Järna, Stockholm, posted to the Mental Health Problems
forum of Sweden's Flashback message boards using the newly-resgistered
username "Lurifax Flux", stating that he was going to hang himself. In
the message Jannes said that he is going to try to hang himself after
already swallowing 100mg of dexofen and 1500mg of paracetamol. He said
that he had set up a webcam to record the event, and would post details
later of a FTP server for people to watch.

People responded to his post almost immediately. Some offered messages
of hope, such as, "How bad can it be? When everything is at its worst,
it can only get better", and "Think of poor people, mutilated people,
people who are lame or blind. Living with a disability is hard. They can
not change their lives! But you still have the ability to alter yours!"
Others tried to keep him online by talking to him empathetically. "Is
there anything that can make you change your mind?", "Tell me about
yourself."

However, other people posted messages saying they didn't believe him,
wishing him luck with his attempt, and calling him an attention whore
and a troll. They also goaded him by saying, "you won't dare, you are
too cowardly", and offering advice on the best way to hang himself. "I
recommend ... you do it from a height that you can jump off so you are
guaranteed to break your neck."

In a later post, Jannes said that he had been feeling suicidal for about
six months, but was too scared to actually try anything until he tried
to strangle himself with his own hands. In response to questions, he
stated that he was using a network cable to strangle himself because he
didn't have any rope, but he was worried that the cable would not be
strong enough to take his weight. He also told them that he has Asperger
syndrome and High-functioning autism, and is emotionally vulnerable and
lacks normal social skills. He admitted to feeling lonely, and alluded
to experiencing problems at school, but admitted that he had a good
upbringing and has a rather good life. At around the same time, he also
updated his Facebook status to say life was "just too difficult", and
that he was going to kill himself.

=== Broadcast of suicide ===
A short while later, at 1:06 p.m., Jannus posted the FTP server url and
login details, saying that he needed to hurry up because, "I'm beginning
to feel that I might change my mind." At this point, people who logged
on to the server found still images taken every two seconds, showing a
young man dressed in sweatpants and t-shirt, in his apartment, hanging
network cable from a doorway.

At 1:13 p.m., Jannus steps out of the shot, and posts another message to
Flashback. "Alright, let's do it." The next series of images show him
walking back to the cable and hooking it around his neck. He slumps to
the floor, and his body began shaking while his head and arms began
turning dark purple before he stops moving. His skin color then lessens
to a pink-red shade as his limp body hangs motionless for a number of
minutes.

On the messageboard, people start to realise the seriousness of the
events: "Given the last pictures, it looks like [this was serious]",
"holy crap, he has done it already", "okay it's getting nasty," "This is
quite sick. Not okay at all," and " I've seen a lot online but this is
the worst I've seen in my entire life" were some of the comments. At
1:32 p.m., a user asks, "Did someone call the police?".

The Södertälje police say they were first alerted to the incident at
1:44 p.m. At 2:06 p.m., the image feeds show two police officers
charging into the apartment and releasing the cable from around Jannus'
neck. They begin administering CPR, Two minutes later, two paramedics
also arrive, and take over CPR while one of the officers looks around
the room at cables, the back of a flat-screen television set, and
presumably the computer, as the images finally stop being uploaded.

Södertälje Polisen spokesperson Lotta Thyni confirmed that Jannus had
died. "The police performed CPR until paramedics arrived on the scene,
but his life could not be saved."

The police have so far declined to comment on how the suicide will be
investigated, but Sven-Erik Alhem, a chief prosecutor in Sweden told
''Aftonbladet'', that psychologically inducing a person to commit
suicide, or contributing to the act, can be classified as incitement to
murder, and is a criminal offense.

===Flashback controversies===
The "Hängning" thread at Flashback continued to receive new posts until
the thread was locked by a site moderator at 5:27 p.m. It had received a
total of 630 posts over 53 pages. "It is unfortunate if someone knew
that the man planned to kill himself and did not do anything to stop
him," said Thyni, but added that police can not control how people use
social forums on the web. "They lack empathy".

The Flashback message boards are a controversial topic in Sweden. They
are seen as being similar to the English language website 4chan, and
especially it's "Random" /b/ board. The Flashback members are able to
post with a great amount of freedom of speech. The forum has been
investigated by the Swedish police on numerous occasions and is under
constant surveillance by the Swedish Security Service due to its
members' abundant discussions about drug use, child pornography, race
science, bestiality and other controversial subjects. Other
controversies include sexual harassment of celebrities and politicians,
open racism, forced disconnection from its internet service provider,
the hosting of nazi sites, and the sabotage of telephone votes in TV
shows.

"I do not remember such a situation in Sweden before," says Anders
Ahlqvist from the Swedish national police force. A similar incident
occurred in Sweden in 2008, when Oscar Ores Balingen, 34, from Stockholm
attempted to kill himself online. In that case, the police were able to
reach Balingen before he died, and managed to save his life. "People
said that I would not dare, but it made me only more triggered,"
Balingen told ''Aftonbladet''. "I do not think they are taking the
threats seriously. There is a terrible lack of empathy on these forums."

In November 2008, a 19-year-old male from Pembroke Pines, Florida used
his webcam to broadcast his suicide on the live video site Justin.tv.
Abraham K. Biggs, 19, committed suicide by taking an overdose of opiates
and benzodiazepine, which had been prescribed for his bipolar disorder.
He also made online threats of suicide and advertised his intentions to
broadcast it live over the internet.

==Related news==
* Teen broadcasts suicide online

== Sources ==

* http://www.aftonbladet.se/nyheter/article7939634.ab
* http://www.aftonbladet.se/nyheter/article7938022.ab
* http://www.expressen.se/nyheter/1.2170294/man-hangde-sig-i-direktsandning
* https://www.flashback.org/t1322408
* http://www.flashback.se/artikel/450/flashbackanvandare-direktsande-sitt-sjalvmord/

* http://news.cnet.com/report-teen-commits-suicide-on-justin-tv/