The court declared illegal the refusal to release a convict with HIV from the Sverdlovsk colony

The Sverdlovsk Regional Court declared illegal the refusal of the Leninsky District Court of Nizhny Tagil to release a 39-year-old convict with HIV from correctional colony No. 12. Lawyer Alexey Bushmakov, who represents the interests of the convict on the initiative of the human rights organization “Zona Prava,” told Mediazona about this.

The convict was diagnosed with HIV (stage 4 B), epileptic disease and organic brain damage (encephalopathy). This diagnosis is included in the government-approved list of diseases that prevent people from serving a sentence in prison. During his stay in the colony, he had no penalties; the man’s characteristics were satisfactory.

The convict petitioned for release to the Leninsky District Court of Nizhny Tagil. In his petition, he noted that he has no close relatives, so if released, he will live in an Orthodox shelter. The court refused to release him. The lawyer noted that the determining factor is the presence of the disease, and not the behavior in the colony, which the court pointed out.

The man suffers from severe chronic illnesses and needs outside help: he can only move when accompanied by others and over short distances, and his hands shake due to a progressive neurological disease. The prison paramedic reported in court that the colony did not have the drugs the convict needed, and he was recommended to purchase them himself.

According to the lawyer, before considering the request for release, the colony administration never sent the man to a forensic medical commission to obtain a report on his state of health. The court also did not take into account that the man does not participate in the public life of the detachment and the colony due to a serious illness.