World

Guilty Verdict In Blood Scandal

By CBSNews.com staff CBSNews.com staff

March 9, 1999 / 6:57 AM EST / CBS

While former Prime Minister Laurent Fabius and another minister were acquitted Tuesday in France's tainted blood scandal, a third minister was convicted for his role in what are thought to have been avoidable HIV contaminations.

In what was clearly a compromise verdict, former Health Minister Edmond Herve was given no penalty despite his conviction.

Judge Christian Le Gunehec said that due to the length of the scandal, Herve had not benefited from the "presumption of innocence to which he is entitled."

The Court of Justice of the Republic acquitted Herve's superior, Social Affairs Minister Georgina Dufoix, along with Fabius, in the contamination of seven people who were transfused with HIV-tainted blood in 1985.

The court was the first since World War II to try ministers for crimes allegedly committed in office.

It was a scandal that shook France's health system to the core. Victims say at least 3,600 people were infected in AIDS-tainted transfusions in the 1980s, and at least 1,000 have already died.

During 10 days of debate, the court, made up of three judges and 12 legislators, was asked to untangle a complex file detailing the state of medical knowledge about AIDS in the mid-1980s, and what France was doing to fight the disease.

Fabius, Herve, and Dufoix were charged in connection with the AIDS deaths of five people and the contamination of two others during a key period in 1985.

Charged with manslaughter and "attacking the physical integrity of others," they faced up to five years in prison and a maximum $90,000 fine.

Herve, the lowest-ranked of the defendants, was accused by an investigating commission of "strangely apathetic behavior," which led to keeping unsterilized blood products in stock after it was known they could be contaminated.

Dufoix and Herve were also accused of a delay in making available imported -- and costly -- heated blood products, and of negligence in the screening of blood donors.

All three, and Fabius in particular, were accused of a strategy of favoritism that delayed systematic testing for AIDS, waiting for development of a French-made test when an American one was available months earlier.

The defendants stressed they never knowingly approved the use of contaminated blood products, and never put commercial concerns ahead of health.

"Never did financial considerations block important decisions," Herve testified. "The uncertainties were very big at a time when scientific knowledge was hesitant."

The most emotional testimony came from the victims.

"You, without doubt, still dream of being president one day, so you wait for this court to acquit you," Sylvie Rouy, 35, told Fabius, who is thought to have higher political ambitions.

"I don't want your compassion. I want to know why I was infected," Rouy testified from her wheelchair. She was contaminated during an ugust 1985 transfusion while giving birth.

State prosecutor Jean-Francois Burgelin had called for all charges to be dropped, saying the affair reflected "an immense breakdown of French medicine" and wasn't the fault of politicians.