WARSAW, Dec 14, 2007 (AFP) - A celebrated Cameroonian poet and activist living in Poland as a refugee since 1999 has been charged with "knowingly infecting" 12 women with the HIV virus, the Warsaw district prosecutor's spokeswoman announced Friday.
Polish police detained Simon Moleke Njie, 33, also known as Simon Mol, in January after one of his victims file a criminal case against him with prosecutors.
Mol told investigators he had not known he was HIV positive and that he had tested negative for the virus in 1999. But Polish police found that several of his partners told him they tested positive for the disease after having had intimate relations with him.
Mol became a darling of Poland's liberal press for organising vocal campaigns against racism and supporting the cause of refugees in Poland.
The women allegedly infected by Mol range in age from 20-25. Mol is believed to have initially asked them to translate his articles and poems into Polish.
The charges carry a maximum penalty of 10 years behind bars.
Police are also investigating whether Mol is responsible for infecting two other women residing outside Poland.
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