Four accused of
injecting men with HIV at sex party

In the Netherlands, four HIV-positive men were charged with drugging, raping, and intentionally infecting other men with HIV during sex parties, prosecutors said Thursday. Three of the four men who were arrested May 13 are suspected of abuse and drugging, according to the International Herald Tribune. Two have confessed to injecting the victims with HIV-infected blood.

Five victims reported to police, claiming they were raped. The arrests soon followed.

Prosecution spokesman Paul Heidanus told reporters Thursday that the two who confessed would face charges of rape and "premeditated severe assault," which carries a maximum sentence of 16 years in prison.

A previous Netherlands supreme court ruling protects the HIV injectors from murder charges because they found that AIDS should no longer be regarded as an inevitably fatal disease but instead a chronic illness.

An ongoing investigation is underway to determine what crimes the third suspect committed. The fourth is suspected to have sold "a considerable amount of drugs," including ecstasy and GHB, known as a "date rape" drug, police said in a statement.

Following their arrest, a Groningen court ordered the suspects to be held for 90 days. (The Advocate)