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http://planetout.com/news/article.html?date=2007/05/31/4&navpath=/topics/health/hiv/
	
		
			
		
		
	
				
			Four HIV-positive men from the Groeningen province in the north of the Netherlands confessed to police that they held sex parties where they drugged men with GHB and injected them with their own blood in an attempt to infect them.
Dutch HIV workers told Gay.com U.K. that they were aware that at least 10 men who attended the sex parties had contracted HIV -- which implies that considerably more men were victims of the assaults.
The accused are two 48-year old men from Slochteren and two men from Groeningen, aged 33 and 34. Two have confessed to the sexual assault and deliberate infection attempts: the other two have so far only admitted to dealing in huge quantities of GHB. One does not define himself as gay.
Five victims between the ages of 25 and 50 have reported to the police so far. Four of them have filed charges.
The Dutch public prosecutor has charged the men with premeditated grievous bodily harm, but said it could not charge them with attempted murder or manslaughter because "the life expectancy of the victims can be extended with medication." The offense carries a maximum penalty of 16 years in prison.
Gay.com spoke to Robert Witlox, Director of the Dutch HIV Association, who took up the story:
"We became aware that something odd was going on in Groeningen about a year ago. Someone came to a support group for people newly diagnosed with HIV and gave us this story about having been drugged unconscious with GHB and raped, which was how he got the virus.
"At first, we dismissed it -- you hear many such stories in support groups -- but several other people came forward with similar stories. One said he had come to to find a man still fucking him without a condom, while another said that during the experience he had felt a sharp needle-like pain in his anus."
The suspects have confessed that they drew blood from all four of themselves and injected it into their victims' anuses.
Witlox continued: "The men would advertise small sex parties -- three to five people -- on the Internet. It appears they were doing it on a frequent basis, and it continued right up till they were arrested in May.
"We alerted the public health department in Groeningen, who said they had heard similar stories. They put out a press release warning gay men about attending sex parties and saying they had noticed a rise in local HIV infections.
"We finally persuaded the first victim -- who does not publicly identify as gay -- to make a formal complaint to the police in January."
Witlox noted that one of the features of the case was that the victims appeared largely to be non-gay-identified men seeking same-sex thrills using the Internet.
The two suspects who have confessioned to the police said that they were motivated by lust, saying that if they made other men positive, they'd have the opportunity to have unprotected sex with them.
Witlox commented: "In many ways, this is a straightforward case. The legal argument about HIV transmission has always been about reckless infection," (meaning not intending to infect, but not caring either) "whereas this is a clear case of rape and of attempted deliberate infection.
"In talking to the media yesterday, not just I but also representatives from the Dutch Health Ministry said that this behavior was not typical of gay men or people with HIV."
Witlox added, however, that since then his organization has been accused of fostering a culture of normalizing unsafe sex.
"Journalists are now linking the case with the fact that we have a support group called Positive and Proud, where subjects like serosorting" (consensual, unprotected sex between HIV-positive people) "are discussed. We've been asked if we have any norms.
"We've said, 'Yes, we do. We're saying it's not all right to rape people and deliberately infect them with HIV!'"(Gus Cairns, Gay.com U.K.)
http://planetout.com/news/article.html?date=2007/05/31/4&navpath=/topics/health/hiv/


 
						 
 
		 
 
		 
 
		 
 
		 
 
		 
 
		 
 
		 
 
		 
 
		 
 
		 
 
		