Doctor in Cambodia gets 25-year jail term for infecting over 200 people with HIV

An unlicensed doctor, who infected over 200 villagers with HIV via the reuse of unclean needles, has been sentenced 25 years in prison.

Yem Chrin, 57, was arrested in Dec. 2014 after most of his patients had their blood tested positive for HIV and accused him of transmitting the virus via the reuse of unsterilized needles.

HIV is the virus that causes AIDS.

The verdict was announced here Thursday by Presiding Judge Yich Chhea-navy.

"The court found Yem Chrin guilty of committing torture with aggravated circumstances and decided to sentence him to 25 years in prison," the verdict said.

It also ordered the convict to pay between 500 U.S. dollars and 3,000 U.S. dollars in compensation to each of more than 100 victims, who had filed the complaints.

The HIV outbreak in Battambang province's rural Roka commune, which came to light in Dec. 2014, has left some 290 people infected, with 10 elderly people dying from complications.

The Southeast Asian country has seen a success in reducing HIV infection rate over the last decade.

According to the National AIDS Authority, HIV carrier rate among Cambodian adults, aged between 15 and 49 years old, is 0.6 percent in 2015, down from 2.5 percent in 1998.

Currently, the country has more than 70,000 people living with HIV/AIDS. Around 85 percent of them have received antiretroviral drugs. Endit