SOUTHFIELD, Mich. -- Assisted-suicide advocate Jack Kevorkian announced Monday he's running for Congress as an independent.

If elected, he said his main priority will be promoting the little-known Ninth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and the rights it guarantees. The Ninth Amendment protects rights not explicitly specified elsewhere in the Constitution, and Kevorkian says he interprets it as protecting a person's choice to die through assisted suicide or to avoid wearing a seat belt.

Kevorkian, 79, a retired pathologist, claims to have helped at least 130 people die from 1990 until 1998.

The congressional seat in Detroit's suburbs is now held by Republican Rep. Joe Knollenberg, who is seeking re-election. Gary Peters, a former state senator and state lottery commissioner, is running for the Democratic nomination. Michigan's statewide nonpresidential primaries are on Aug. 5.

He was released from state prison last year after serving eight years for helping Thomas Youk, a 52-year-old Oakland County man with Lou Gehrig's disease, die in 1998. He was convicted of second-degree murder the following year.

Although he has been nicknamed "Dr. Death," Kevorkian didn't say much about assisted suicide when he spoke to reporters Monday morning.

He said the government is tyrannical. "You've been trained to obey it, not fight for it because the tyrant doesn't like that," Kevorkian said.