25 123. On September 3, 2001, Ana Cecilia Cordero Cueva made a statement. She was the Technical Secretary of the Azuay AIDS network, an organization that was aware of TGGL’s and her mother’s situation, and that assisted in the procedures for the taking of samples and sending them to Belgium. 147 She pointed out that the Catholic University of Louvain requested samples from two HIV positive volunteers, from the child TGGL, and the donor HS. She said that they had to insist that HS appear and give a sample and finally managed through the mediation of a priest. She said that the samples were taken at the Santa Ana laboratory in the presence of two expert witnesses, and then were “packed up” with refrigeration gel to be taken to Quito the following day where they were handed over to Dr. Juan Herteleer, a Dutch volunteer doctor, who travelled the next day to Belgium. She indicated that five days later she received an email from this volunteer doctor stating that the samples had been handed to Dr. Marc Van Ranst of the Catholic University of Louvain.148 124. On September 20, 2001, the Department of Research and Diagnostic Microbiology sent a communication to Pablo Arturo Monsalve in reply to various questions on the sub-types of HIV, indicating that “the fact that various individuals present with the same sub-type or variant (...) means nothing as to whether they infected each other.”149 125. On September 23, 2001, the Azuay District Prosecutor issued a Prosecutor’s Opinion analyzing the documentary evidence, expert witness reports and testimony, and filed charges against Mariana Ramírez as perpetrator of the offense set out in Art.436 of the Criminal Code.150 Charges were also brought against Pablo Arturo Monsalve and Edith Alexandra Orellana for concealment of the said offense. 151 From the Prosecutor’s conclusions the following are noteworthy: It is been indisputably established that the infection of the minor (...) with the blood of donor [HS] – plasma and platelets obtained in the Azuay Red Cross Blood Bank on June 22, 1998 – and as a result of administering this blood, as admitted by the accused Mariana de Jesús Ramírez. That the donor [HS] at the time of the donation was unaware that he had the HIV virus (...) The Staff Nurse of the Blood Bank of the Azuay Red Cross, the accused Mariana de Jesús Ramírez, in her only court statement, admitted her role in the administration of blood and plasma on June 22, 1998. However, she lied when stating that she performed serum tests. The accused, due to oversight, negligence, recklessness, or non-compliance with basic Laboratory routine, omitted to perform the HIV test before administering the blood and plasma originating from a donor infected with HIV – an infection that was established 24 hours after the transfusion (...). The criminal elements of negligence and recklessness attributable to the accused are set out in the definition of the last indent of Art.14 of the Criminal Code. that “extraction tubes were labelled 1 to 4”, and tube 1 was assigned to TGGL’s sample, and that tubes 3 and 4 were assigned to the two adult males labelled under national identity document numbers 01-01103406 and 01-00972877, respectively. They indicated that tube labelled No. 2 was reserved for HS who came on the following day at 10:00 am to the laboratory in the presence of the expert witness Vivar and of Ana Cordero. It added that the “duly labelled“ samples were handed to Ana Cordero and that as from that moment they were not aware of the procedues for sending them to Belgium. 147 Annex 2. Court File. Second Criminal Court of Cuenca. Incorporated into Annex 1, Court File. Civil Action No. 323 05. Superior Court of Justice of Cuenca. First Chamber. Statement of Ana Cordero of September 3, 2013. Folio 214 148 Annex 2. Court File. Second Criminal Court of Cuenca. Incorporated into Annex 1, Court File. Civil Action No. 323 05. Superior Court of Justice of Cuenca. First Chamber. Statement of Ana Cordero of September 3, 2013. Folio 214. 149 Annex 2. Court File. Second Criminal Court of Cuenca. Incorporated into Annex 1, Court File. Civil Action No. 323 05. Superior Court of Justice of Cuenca. First Chamber. Communication of the Department of Investigation and Microbiological Diagnostics of September 20, 2001. Folios 321 and 322. 150 Annex 2. Court File. Second Criminal Court of Cuenca. Incorporated into Annex 1, Court File. Civil Action No. 323 05. Superior Court of Justice of Cuenca. First Chamber. Prosecutor’s opinion of September 23, 2001. Folios 315 – 319. 151 Annex 2. Court File. Second Criminal Court of Cuenca. Incorporated into Annex 1, Court File. Civil Action No. 323 05. Superior Court of Justice of Cuenca. First Chamber. Prosecutor’s opinion of September 23, 2001. Folios 315 – 319.