MEXICO CITY - Mexico's Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that the armed forces cannot kick out HIV-positive members because doing so is discriminatory and unconstitutional.
The court, with an 8-3 vote, ordered Mexico's Defense Department to return to duty four soldiers who were expelled from the armed forces for testing HIV-positive.
The judges spent five sessions debating whether HIV-positive armed forces members were "useless," as the military had argued.
The president of the court, Guillermo Ortiz, said the military can still expel members who have full-blown AIDS or who medically cannot complete their duties.
The case rose to the Supreme Court after several soldiers appealed the Defense Department's decision to let them go.
A congressional commission has requested that Mexico's armed forces provide them with figures on the number of military personnel infected with the AIDS virus and how many have been discharged because of their illness.
from The Associated Press
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