[Update]Netherlands: Dutch deliberate injection retrial results in prison sentences three years lower than in 2010

The two men jailed for infecting others with HIV at sex parties were sentenced to eight and five years in jail at their retrial on Thursday. The two men were jailed on appeal in 2010 for deliberately infecting a number of other men with the virus. The 54-year-old Peter M was sentenced to 12 years in prison. That has now been reduced to eight years. Hans J, who is 39, was sentenced to nine years but now faces a lower tariff of five years. In sending the men for retrial earlier this year, the supreme court said there was reasonable doubt the victims in the case may have developed HIV through unprotected sex rather than by being injected with HIV-infected blood. M remains in jail, but J was released at the beginning of this year after spending almost five years in jail. 

The trial of two men charged with infecting others with HIV at sex parties restarted again on Thursday with the public prosecution department lowering its sentencing demands. The supreme court said earlier this year the two men – who had been jailed for deliberately injecting other men with HIV infected blood at Groningen sex parties in 2008 – should be retried. According to the court, there was reasonable doubt the victims in the case may have developed HIV through unprotected sex rather than by being injected with HIV-infected blood. The public prosecution department has now accepted this position in several of the cases and has reduced its sentence demands to 9.5 and 6.5 years. Appeal The two men were jailed on appeal in 2010 for deliberately infecting a number of other men with the virus. The 52-year-old Peter M was sentenced to 12 years in prison and Hans J (42) to nine years. The case came to light when a number of their victims pressed assault charges. Twelve of the victims were diagnosed as HIV positive and Peter M and Hans J were found guilty of grievous bodily harm involving five of them. M, who organised the sex parties, remains in jail. J was released at the beginning of this year after spending almost five years in jail.