One month after the highly publicized mercy killing of a severely disabled young man, a legal inquiry has been opened targeting the man's mother and doctor, a prosecutor said Monday.

The procedure _ aimed at determining if a criminal investigation is warranted _ follows the recent death of 22-year-old Vincent Humbert, which gripped France and reopened a debate over whether euthanasia should be legalized.

The deaf, mute and paralyzed Humbert had written a book pleading for the right to die and his mother made it known that the two had a death plan worked out. On Sept. 26 the mother allegedly gave her son a deadly dose of sedatives that induced a coma and doctors then cut his life support.

Prosecutor Gerald Lesigne said the inquiry would examine whether Humbert's mother, Marie, had committed the crime of "administering poisonous substances with premeditation on a vulnerable person," which carries a maximum five-year sentence.

The inquiry was opened on Friday, said Lesigne, the prosecutor of Boulougne-sur-Mer, which is near the northern French town where Humbert died.

The young man's doctor, Frederic Chaussoy, was being investigated for "premeditated poisoning," which carries a life sentence.

Chaussoy has publicly said that he unplugged Humbert's artificial respirator. "I am responsible and I assume the responsibility," the doctor said earlier this month.

Given the context, neither Humbert's mother nor doctor would be placed in detention pending the investigation, Lesigne said.

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