The Tokyo District Court on Friday found a former health ministry senior bureaucrat guilty of professional negligence after he approved the continued use of HIV-tainted blood products, causing the death from AIDS of a patient.

Akihito Matsumura, 60, former head of the biologics division of the then Health and Welfare Ministry, was sentenced to one year in prison, suspended for two years.

According to the court, Matsumura failed to take necessary measures to prevent the patient, who was being treated for a liver ailment, being administered the product even though he could have anticipated the consequences of allowing the use of blood products at the time. The patient was given the infected coagulant in April 1986.

The ruling is the first time in Japan that an individual bureaucrat has been convicted for a decision made in his or her official capacity.

However, the court acquitted Matsumura of another charge of professional negligence in connection with the death of a hemophiliac through the use of unheated coagulants in May and June 1985, saying that at the time, there was only limited knowledge available on the nature of HIV and the mechanism of its infection through blood products.

The trial dealt with the death of the two patients, who were among more than 1,500 hemophiliacs and other people who received blood transfusions and were infected with HIV through tainted products, imported mainly from the United States.

A group of plaintiffs in civil suits filed by HIV-infected hemophiliacs against the government and now-defunct Green Cross Corp. said that as of Thursday, 520 hemophiliacs and other patients had died as a result of being administered tainted blood products.

The hemophiliac died of AIDS in December 1991 after being infected with HIV through the imported coagulants at Teikyo University Hospital in 1985, while the liver patient died in December 1995 after being injected with blood products sold by Green Cross in 1986.

The main focus of Matsumura's trial was whether he had knowledge of the high risk of unheated imported coagulants at the time the drugs were used for the patients and whether he had the full authority to take appropriate measures within the ministry.

Handing down Friday's sentence, presiding Judge Toshio Nagai said Matsumura could have anticipated the consequences of allowing the use of the drugs at least by the end of 1985, as it had already been learned that at least five hemophiliacs had become HIV-infected.

In December 1985, the importing of heat-treated blood products was authorized, enabling health authorities to halt the use of untreated products without fear of disrupting treatment, the judge pointed out.

"The defendant neglected his duty (to prevent harm to the public) through allowing drug manufacturers and medical institutions to sell and use the unheated blood products," Nagai said.

"Such negligence on the part of the defendant should not be overlooked, as it posed extensive danger to the public across the country," he added.

The judge also said that Matsumura had the sole authority to take measures to prevent the spread of HIV as head of the ministry's biologics and antibiotics section, which was in charge of examining and authorizing blood products. The section no longer exists, having been merged with other divisions in the present Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry.

Prosecutors had demanded a three-year prison term for Matsumura.

Appearing before the court in a navy-blue suit, Matsumura listened quietly as the judge took 90 minutes to read out the ruling.

Throughout the trial, Matsumura had pleaded not guilty on the grounds that the relationship between HIV infection and the development of AIDS was not well known at the time and that he had no authority to recall the products. The former ministry official, who had a doctor's license, also said it was feared that heated products caused side effects.

Jugo Hanai, head of a group of plaintiffs in the civil suit from Osaka, praised Friday's ruling, describing holding a public servant criminally responsible for not taking proper action to save people's lives as a landmark decision.

"The defendant's negligence must not be forgiven, as he had extensive information and knew of the anxiety widely shared by patients on the product's safety," he said, adding that he hopes Matsumura will not file an appeal.

The wife of the liver patient later told reporters that she feels relief after hearing the guilty verdict.

The defendant's lawyers said they need to further examine the ruling in detail to determine whether it is appropriate to place sole responsibility for official government policy on the shoulder of one individual.

Prosecutors with the Tokyo District Public Prosecutor's Office said they are generally satisfied with the court's decision regarding the liver patient, but added that they plan to hold consultations with senior prosecutors to decide whether to appeal the court's not-guilty ruling regarding the hemophiliac.

Matsumura's trial was one of three criminal trials in the HIV debacle. , in which at least 1,430 hemophiliacs -- about one-third of the country's total hemophiliac population -- were infected after being administered the tainted blood products. The scandal was widely seen as a typical case of the "vicious triangle" -- of bureaucrats, medical professionals and drug makers -- in which firms eager to have their products authorized or widely used win over scholars by covering their research expenses and secure positions for senior bureaucrats after their retirement from public service.

In March, Takeshi Abe, 85, a former vice president of Teikyo University and Japan's top expert on hemophilia, was acquitted of professional negligence resulting in the death of the same hemophiliac named in Matsumura's case. The man was infected through the use of tainted blood products at Abe's university hospital.

In February 2000, three former presidents of Green Cross were sentenced to prison terms by the Osaka District Court for professional negligence resulting in the death of the liver patient named in Matsumura's case.

The three have appealed the rulings to the Osaka High Court, but one of them has since died.

The families of the victims of the blood-products scandal filed damages suits against the government and Green Cross in 1989. The case was settled in March 1996.

Green Cross, Japan's main supplier of blood products, was absorbed by Yoshitomi Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. in 1998. Yoshitomi Pharmaceutical later changed its name to Welfide Corp.