Swiss Acupuncturist Charged in 16 HIV Infections

GENEVA (AP) - Swiss authorities say a self-styled healer has been indicted on charges that he intentionally infected 16 people with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, between 2001 and 2005.

A regional prosecutor's office in Bern, the Swiss capital, says the unidentified man was indicted in Bern-Mitelland regional court on charges of intentionally spreading human disease and causing serious bodily harm, offenses that carry maximum penalties of five to 10 years respectively.

Prosecutors said in a statement Thursday that most of the victims attended his music school and that the defendant injected them with infected blood under various pretexts by pricking them with unknown objects or using a drink that made them pass out. They say the defendant "denies everything."

Prosecutors say proceedings against a second suspect have been closed for lack of evidence.