All go free in HIV blood trial
Guardian Staff
France's Socialist former prime minister, Laurent Fabius, and two of his ministers, walked free from court yesterday at the end of a four-week trial in connection with the distribution of HIV-infected blood in the 1980s.
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the Guardian
France's Socialist former prime minister, Laurent Fabius, and two of his ministers, walked free from court yesterday at the end of a four-week trial in connection with the distribution of HIV-infected blood in the 1980s.

There were angry reactions from victims and their families when a specially appointed republican court of justice, made up of 12 MPs and three judges, acquitted Mr Fabius and his social affairs minister, Georgina Dufoix, on charges of manslaughter arising from the distribution of the contaminated blood.

The health minister at the time, Edmond Herve, was found guilty on two counts of contamination but was freed without punishment.

The decision to acquit two out of the three accused followed a plea by the public prosecutor earlier in the trial that the ministers be found not guilty on the grounds that they had no case answer.

But there were sarcastic shouts from the hostile public gallery demanding that the accused be decorated with the legion of honour.

The hearings were attended by several people who were given infected blood and some of the most seriously ill were brought by ambulance and heard the evidence from wheelchairs. Some people carried photographs of dead relatives, and gave evidence of children dying after appalling suffering.

The verdict was described by the victims' families as scandalous and a defeat for justice. Hundreds of people have died and thousands more will die prematurely because they received the contaminated blood during transfusions.

'I can see Mr Fabius returning to his position as speaker of the [national] assembly to a standing ovation from other MPs,' one distraught mother said. The AFT, an association representing victims of these transfusions, said evidence had been doctored and the trial had proved that 'certain ministers are untouchable'.

After three weeks of hearings and 10 days of deliberation, the court said Mr Fabius, who has temporarily given up his post as assembly speaker, acted quickly and efficiently when the crisis arose 15 years ago. Ms Dufoix was told that there was no evidence that she had delayed preventive measures. But the judgement said Herve had failed to speed up the destruction of contaminated blood and should have notified potential victims so that they could undergo tests.

Dissatisfaction at the way the court handled what the prosecution called 'the biggest medical tragedy of the century' could see the end of a special tribunal which is waiting to judge 24 cases of financial corruption and other charges against former and serving ministers. A constitutional expert, Olivier Duhamel, said that the trial had shown that it was impossible to reach fair decisions 'with a court made up of MPs disguised as judges'.

'This was a false judgement of Solomon,' he added. 'The court fell on the weakest in its search for a scapegoat.'

Herve, who the court maintained had already suffered enough because of press persecution before the trial, said the tribunal voted on party lines with all seven right-wing MPs on the panel and one judge voting against him in an 8-7 split decision.

The row over the court's motives and competence obscured a key point in the judgement which rejected persistent allegations that Mr Fabius delayed the introduction of American techniques to purify transfused blood so that a French firm could finish similar experiments.

His senior aides at the time, including Louis Schweitzer, now chairman of Renault, said there had never been a directive delaying tests. They supported Mr Fabius's claim that he had 'instinctively' introduced preventive measures even before he received medical advice.

'Not only did Mr Fabius act quickly and well, but he accelerated the whole process,' the judgement said.

However, the verdict does not end the 15-year scandal. Government officials and managers of the national blood transfusion service are awaiting trials that will take place in a normal criminal court.

Seven years ago, the head of France's blood transfusion service, Michel Garretta, was jailed for four years on charges of distributing poisoned products.

'We hope that these trials in a regular court will allow us to learn everything that the parliamentary court has tried to hide from us,' a spokesman for the AFT said.