Yem Cherin was found guilty of infecting people in northwestern Battambang province with HIV by reusing dirty needles.
Provincial court judge Yich Na Chheavy said in the verdict: “The court found Yem Chrin guilty of operating health treatment without licence, injecting people with syringes that spread HIV and torturing people to die.”
The court reduced the charge of murder to manslaughter which spared Yem Chrin a life sentence.
The charges against the illegal doctor also included intentionally transmitting the HIV virus and running a clinic without permission from the Ministry of Health.
His lawyer, Em Sovann, told Agence France-Presse news agency: “My client still insists he is innocent. I will represent him if he wants to appeal this conviction.”
The case has highlighted a problem in many parts of rural Cambodia where illegal doctors are often the only option for medical care.
According to the Ministry of Health, almost 4,000 illegal health-service providers are still operating in the country.
Panicked residents of Rokar village, where Chroeum was based, sought testing after reports of infections emerged in December 2014.
Some of those who were infected testified at the trial.
Loeum Lorn, 52, said he and four of his family members had contracted HIV.
“We are his (the doctor’s) victims but it was only late on that we discovered we were infected,” he told reporters outside the trial.
He added that around 10 villagers who were infected, mostly elderly, had since died.
Yem Chrin had reportedly practised in the area since 1996 and police said he was well-respected.
UNAIDS estimates there are 76,000 people living with HIV in Cambodia. The country has been widely praised for its progress in tackling AIDS.
New HIV infections have dropped by 67% from 3,500 in 2005, to 1,300 in 2013, according to UNAIDS.
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