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18 October
BANGKOK – A German national accused by a community in northeast Thailand of spreading HIV/AIDS among local school girls, on Monday denied he had overstayed his visa by three years, claiming he was a Thai and had no wish to return to Germany.
Hans-Otto Schiemann, 55, born in Schweinfurt, Germany, was arrested in Chaiyaphum province, 270 kilometres northeast of Bangkok, last month on charges of overstaying his tourist visa after neighbours issued warnings that Schiemann was HIV positive and pursuing unprotected sex with young girls.
“I have lived in Thailand eight years. I am Thai already so I don’t need a visa,” Schiemann told a Chaiyaphum court on Monday, after requesting a lawyer to represent his case. Schiemann’s trial will resume on 15 November, court officials said after hearing the man’s not guilty plea.
“I don’t want to go back to Germany,” Schiemann told the court in fairly fluent Thai.
Police arrested Schiemann on 27 September on the prompting of his former wife, a Thai national who recently tested positive for HIV and told community leaders she contracted the deadly virus from her husband. The ex-wife also informed authorities that her husband was fond of purchasing unprotected sex from young school girls.
Health authorities in Chaiyaphum have not been able to determine whether Schiemann is HIV positive, since Thai law prohibits involuntary blood tests.
DPA
Subject: German news