/ 22 July 1999

NO MANDATORY HIV TESTS FOR SUSPECTS

THE government has no policy which forces rape suspects to undergo HIV/Aids tests to verify whether they are carriers of the deadly disease, the Justice Ministry said on Wednesday. The statement responded to an open letter from the Brazilian Ambassador Oto Agripino Maia, Ambassador of Brazil in which he complained that the government had not provided results of HIV tests of the suspects in the rape of a Brazilian journalist. But Justice Minister Penuell Maduna’s spokesperson, Paul Setsetse, said there is at present no policy which compels rape suspects to be tested for Aids. Setsetse said the victims must undergo HIV/Aids tests, but “is not sure” about the suspects.