Paris - Most people in France do not believe the trial of three former ministers in a scandal over AIDS-tainted blood will be fair or establish who is responsible, a new poll revealed yesterday. But an overwhelming 85 per cent said they thought bringing ministers to trial, unprecedented in post-war France, was a good thing.
The three ministers, including the former prime minister, Mr Laurent Fabius, are accused of manslaughter in the management of blood banks blamed for infecting thousands of people, many of them haemophiliacs, with the AIDS virus during 1984-85.
The poll, conducted by BVA institute, found that 57 per cent had little or no confidence that the Court of Justice of the Republic, created to try members of government, would fairly judge the accused.