Brussels – Olivier Dupuis, a former Italian-Belgian MEP from 1996 to 2004 and secretary of the Transnational Radical Party (RTP) from 1995 to 2003, has died at the age of 67. Dupuis had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer at the end of 2025, and on 4 May, he chose to die by euthanasia (which has been legal in Belgium since 2002) at his home in Brussels, putting into practice what he had preached throughout his years as a radical activist and politician.
Born in Wallonia in 1958, Dupuis joined the Radical Party in 1981, devoting himself primarily to promoting freedom and democracy in the states of Central and Eastern Europe under Soviet influence. After being arrested twice, each time for three days, for taking part in anti-regime demonstrations first in Prague and then in Dubrovnik (in what was then Yugoslavia), Dupuis’s name first made international headlines in October 1985 when he refused compulsory military service in Belgium. Charged with desertion, he remained in prison for 11 months until August 1986.
In 1988, Depuis moved to Budapest and in 1995 was appointed secretary of the TRP. A year later, he was elected to the European Parliament on the Pannella List, before being re-elected in 1999 on the Bonino List and serving until 2004. During his time in the European Parliament, he joined the Committee on Foreign Affairs and returned to focusing on Eastern Europe, collecting over 100,000 signatures calling for the indictment of former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic before the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia and campaigning for the recognition of the genocide perpetrated by Russia against the Chechen people.
Among the first to pay tribute to Depuis were his former party colleagues Marco Cappato and Marco Perduca. In an official statement from the organisation Eumans, which they lead, they praised “his long activism, always characterised by civil disobedience and non-violence,” highlighting “the goals of freedom, rights, and justice” that underpinned his political action. Perduca and Cappato also looked back on the numerous campaigns led by Dupuis around the world: “From the Tibetans to the Uighurs, via the Vietnamese, Laotians, Taiwanese, indigenous peoples of the Andes and Indochina, right through to Chinese dissidents, Dupuis has always taken it upon himself to represent the demands for freedom and self-determination of the millions of people who are victims of authoritarian regimes,” they wrote.
The MEP for Renew Europe and Secretary-General of the European Democratic Party, Sandro Gozi, also joined in the condolences, describing Dupuis as “a true radical and a true European” who “embodied a transnational politics capable of transcending borders and envisioning Europe as a tangible space of freedom and rights.” The PD MEP and Vice-President of the European Parliament, Pina Picierno (S&D), also paid tribute to Dupuis in a post on X. “Your non-violent battles, your clarity of political analysis, and your ability to be ahead of others remain a constant guide for me,” she wrote. “Our commitment will continue to bear your name and your presence,” she concluded.
English version by the Translation Service of Withub
