German to be tried under Schengen pact
A German doctor has been committed to trial in Athens next January in connection with charges that Greek cancer patients died in his clinic after being promised treatment, without being told the method being used was not scientifically approved. Dr Rolf Babauer, the owner of the clinic, is charged with manslaughter through negligence, and fraud. Dimitris Yiannitsis, a Greek doctor believed to have since died, told patients that the method used in Babauer’s clinic would cure them within a month. According to the charges, Yiannitsis «charged large amounts of money.» Between May and August 2001, he took nine patients to Germany, all of whom subsequently died. Babauer is the first foreigner to be tried in Greece under the terms of the Schengen agreement, for crimes committed in his own country against Greek citizens. News reports said 24 of 25 Greeks treated in his clinic died.
