By Soyoung Kim
SOUTHFIELD, Michigan (Reuters) - Assisted suicide advocateJack Kevorkian, known as "Doctor Death" for helping more than100 people end their lives, said on Monday he will run for theU.S. Congress.
The 79-year-old pathologist announced his bid to run as anindependent less than a year after being released from prisonwhere he served eight years for second-degree murder.
"I have no ties, no fetters. I am free," Kevorkian toldreporters, adding that he planned to run against the "tyranny"of the U.S. Supreme Court which he said has robbed Americans oftheir rights.
In the 1990s Kevorkian became one of the most prominent andpolarizing figures in the debate over euthanasia by assistingin some 130 suicides and for his outspoken advocacy of the"right to die."
Kevorkian, who was paroled in 2007, said he will run as anindependent for a congressional seat representing the Detroitsuburbs, near the area where he presided at dozens of suicidesin cheap hotel rooms and the back of his rusty van.
He was convicted after a CBS news program aired a videoshowing Kevorkian administering lethal drugs to a 52-year-oldman suffering from debilitating amyotrophic lateral sclerosis,or Lou Gehrig's disease.
His candidacy will pit Kevorkian against Republicanincumbent Joe Knollenberg and Democrat Gary Peters inMichigan's 9th District, which includes the upscale suburbs ofBloomfield Hills and Birmingham. Political analysts rate therace between the two main candidates could be close.
Kevorkian had been required to gather 3,000 votersignatures on a petition in order to qualify for the ballot.
As a condition of his parole, Kevorkian vowed not to assistwith any suicides although he said he would continue to lobbyfor the legalization of assisted suicide in the United States.
In 1997, Oregon became the only U.S. state to legalizedoctor-assisted suicide. Efforts to pass similar measures inother states including Michigan and Hawaii have failed.
(Reporting by Soyoung Kim; editing by Michael Conlon andAlan Elsner)
