Convict in Kalmykia demands compensation for being HIV-infected

Yuri Mikhailov, who is serving his sentence in Elista, after staying in the Novorossiysk detention centre and the colonies of Kabardino-Balkaria and Kalmykia, became HIV-infected and sick with hepatitis. He demanded compensation for inadequate custody conditions.

"We are seeking compensation for improper custody conditions, as a result of which the claimant was infected with a fatal disease," Svetlana Toreeva, a claimant's representative and an expert with the "Public Verdict" Fund*.

Mikhailov himself said that he was detained under an article on illegal drug dealing; in 2016-2017 he was kept at the Novorossiysk SIZO (pre-trial prison); and in 2017, he was sent to a penal colony in Kabardino-Balkaria. "There, in January 2018, I was in the colony hospital, seeing dentists ... In June, I was told that I had HIV infection and hepatitis," he has explained.

He has his prison term until June 2027, but Mikhailov hopes for the conditional early relief (CER) this fall.

The infection had a strong impact on his life, Mikhailov has added: "Psychologically it had a very strong impact, I am now Category III invalid for my mental disorder. When I found out about this in the colony, I wanted to kill myself, realizing that people don't live long with such a disease. In Kalmykia, I got married, my wife accepted me ... But there are people who have a very negative attitude. In particular, my wife's mother tells everyone about my illness, and does not allow my wife to see her children ... I want justice and to understand who has admitted a person to be infected with such a disease," the convict has stated.