P ARIS - The trial of three former French ministers long term HIV blood scandal in France came to an end today with a conviction and two acquittals. Although former Prime Minister Laurent Fabius and former Social Affairs Minister Georgina Dufoix were found not guilty, former Secretary of State for Health Edmond Hervé was convicted of manslaughter and other charges of Court Justice of the Republic, a special tribunal set up to try government ministers.
The case centered on the decisions taken by ministers in the early and mid-1980s, when the AIDS epidemic was breeding in France. Fabius, in particular, was accused of delaying a testing program nationwide with an AIDS test made by Abbott Laboratories based US while the French firm Pasteur Diagnostics preparing its own version. The court dismissed the charge, saying that Fabius had actually acted to accelerate the test program. His conviction was saved for Hervé, who was accused of continuing to allow prisoners and other high-risk individuals to donate blood for 2 years after warnings from health officials that their blood might be infected with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. The decision, however, is mainly symbolic: Hervé will not receive punishment
Although the last chapter of the saga is now complete, the case can continue for many months to come .. 30+ others are accused in the case - most of the time poisoning - which noted French cell biologist François Gros, scientific adviser of Fabius in the 1980s, and AIDS epidemiology pioneer Jean-Baptiste Brunet. The judge for the accused, Marie-Odile Bertella-Geffroy, has completed its investigation and should recommend in the coming days at least some of these accused stand trial too. "This will last much longer," says a French biomedical researcher who asked not to be identified.
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