The ECHR awarded 40 thousand euros to the relatives of two prisoners with HIV who died due to lack of treatment in prison

The European Court of Human Rights awarded 40 thousand euros to the relatives of two deceased prisoners with HIV who were not provided with medical care in the Karelian prison-4. The human rights organization “Zone of Law” told Mediazona about this.

The Russian government asked the court in Strasbourg to reject the complaint of the relatives of Oleg Mikhailov (name changed) and Konstantin Proletarsky. Authorities maintained that the prisoners were "under close medical supervision and received appropriate treatment."

In its decision, the ECHR indicated that the authorities did not present any medical report, while the families of the deceased submitted an expert report that spoke of shortcomings in medical care. It also noted that the treatment did not meet the medical needs of the prisoners.

The court recorded three fundamental violations: the infectious disease doctor very rarely examined the convicts (Mikhailova, notes “Zone of Law”, only three times); they underwent immunological testing only once; Mikhailov and Proletarsky were deprived of antiretroviral therapy - the latter was prescribed such treatment even before his conviction.

Thus, the ECtHR concluded that the Russian government violated Article 2 of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (the right to life) by failing to provide the necessary level of protection to those convicted.

Oleg Mikhailov died in the St. Petersburg Botkin Hospital in May 2008 after three years in prison without treatment. Konstantin Proletarsky was released from LIU-4 in Karelia for health reasons in October 2008, but he died in June 2009.