BANGKOK (Reuters) - Thailand is to deport a one-legged German
accused of trying to infect nearly 100 Thai teenage girls with
HIV through unprotected sex, his lawyer said on Friday.
A court sentenced Hans-Otto Schiemann, 56-year-old former sailor,
to two months in jail for overstaying his visa as Thailand had no
law to punish him for having unprotected sex, lawyer Warinporn
Hongchumpae said.
"The court ruled that he had to be jailed for 58 days, which he
has already completed while awaiting a court verdict," Warinporn,
who was appointed by the provincial court, 340 km northeast of
Bangkok, to represent him, told Reuters.
Schiemann, a native of Schweinfurt in Bavaria who had been living
in the province for 10 years, was arrested in September and would
be taken to Bangkok for deportation, she said.
Deliberate transmission of the AIDS virus is a crime in many
Western countries and the majority of U.S. states. A Texan who
knew he was HIV-positive was sentenced to life in prison in 2003
for sexually assaulting an 11-year-old boy.
However, in many developing countries, including those in
southeast Asia where AIDS and commercial sex are rife, effective
legislation to address the problem has not been passed.
Schiemann, who launched a tirade of abuse against Thai women and
called them "witches" and "monkeys," refused a prison blood test
to confirm his HIV status, but admitted to reporters last month
he had HIV.
He said he had done nothing wrong.