I was participating in a workshop at the “Nubarashen” Criminal-executive Institution, when one of the prisoners said that his fellow prisoner living with HIV had been released on parole due to his health status. All the prisoners participating in the workshop recognized the man and confirmed the information. I asked them how they knew about his health status. “Well, it wasn’t a secret, he himself had announced it”. When he demanded something from the guards and was rejected, he would shout: “I have AIDS, I will cut my vein and will spill my blood on your body and you will get infected,” said the prisoners.
If the employees and prisoners were informed about the ways HIV is transmitted, perhaps they would not be careful of the threat posed by a prisoner living with HIV.
REFERENCE: According to official information from the “Penitentiary Medical Center” SNCO of the Ministry of Health of the Republic of Armenia, as of September 18, 2024, “32 prisoners have HIV-positive status, 30 of whom are receiving antiretroviral treatment. The 32 prisoners living with HIV are male, mainly aged 25 to 40”.
“What if my sons-in-law read “Datalex”? I will commit suicide…”
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In the recent 3 years, the observation group implementing public control in Criminal-executive Institutions and bodies of the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Armenia, has received numerous alerts from people with HIV-positive status. Cases of discriminatory treatment of prisoners living with HIV have been recorded not only by other prisoners and employees of Criminal-executive Institutions, but also by doctors and medical staff, who have revealed medical secrets. Medical secrets are also revealed by courts.
During the trial, the accused ask the court not to include information about their health in the verdict, but their petitions are not taken into account. “I received my verdict and asked the young man living with me to read it out loud, being sure that there would not be a single word about my health condition in the verdict,” a convict of Criminal-Executive institution at the “Convicts’ Hospital” Andranik P. told us during the interview. However, it turned out that the verdict detailed information about Andranik’s health condition, which is constituting a medical secret and, according to the RA Law “On Personal Data”, it is considered “personal data of a special category”. “There were four of us in the cell, when he read: “…diffuse white matter lesion on the brain, more likely HIV encephalopathy, less likely other lesion genesis”. Everyone stood up and, being horrified, immediately asked, “Do you have AIDS?” I didn’t know what to do, when they wanted a “report”, but then they understood me,” Andranik recalled and added: “The same is written in ”Datalex”, what if my sons-in-law suddenly come in and read it, I will commit suicide. A few months ago I applied to “Datalex” with a letter to close it, but in vain.” Currently, the court case of the convict living with HIV is closed and the information is limited. Acting Head of the Judicial Department Nairi Galstyan, in response to a written inquiry from Aravot.am, noted that the RA Human Rights Defender’s staff sent the department a letter restricting access to the statistical electronic card of the above-mentioned convict’s criminal case, and visibility was restricted on August 19 of this year, and on August 27. However, it became available in the “Datalex” judicial information system on October 4 due to technical problems in the system. When asked whether they had received similar applications from convicted persons living with HIV, the Judicial Department replied that such separate statistics or other records are not managed.
REFERENCE: The depersonalization of personal data in judicial acts published on the official website of the judicial authority is carried out in accordance with ”The procedure established by the Supreme Judicial Council’s Decision- 40-105 of September 27, 2018, on depersonalization of Personal Data in Judicial Acts Published on the Official Website of the judicial authority and Other Cases of Depersonalization of Personal Data, according to Clause 3 of Appendix 2 of which, the depersonalization of all personal data in the judicial act is carried out manually (by closing or replacing the data) using an appropriate computer program until the introduction of a unified software system for depersonalization, after which the depersonalization will be carried out automatically”.
“When it turned out I had HIV, they beat me…”
“I was handsome and attractive, and I won’t hide it; many people wanted to have sexual relations with me in prison. Of course, I rejected some of them, while I had sex with some others. And when I saw that I had a large army of fans, I announced that I was HIV-positive so that they wouldn’t get too intimate. They didn’t believe me though,” said Ashot V., a homosexual prisoner. One day, they were conducting HIV tests in the Criminal-Executive Institution. Ashot was also examined and HIV was detected. The news spread throughout the prison. “On the orders of the so-called “zone supervisor,” they beat me, kicked me, and hit me with a stick. It seemed to them that I was aware of my health status and had had sexual intercourse with them intentionally to infect others. I was crying and screaming: “Firstly, I didn’t know about it, secondly, I had a protected sexual intercouse and it was impossible that I had infected them,” Ashot recalled, noting that the violence was happening in front of the prison staff, but they didn’t intervene. “Homosexuals lived isolated from other prisoners in detention centers , but they separated me from my other friends and moved me to the “Hospital for Convicts” a few days later.
REFERENCE: HIV testing is carried out in the medical divisions of “Penitentiary Medical Center” SNCO, using rapid blood testing upon admission to the institution. HIV infectious agents are identified in the result of testing. Pre-test and post-test HIV counseling is provided by the doctor of the ”Penitentiary Medical Center” SNCO division, and if necessary, by an epidemiologist. In the Criminal-Executive Institutions of Armenia, HIV testing using gingival transudate is not carried out.
During a regular visit in 2021, the group of public observers conducting public monitoring in Criminal-executive Institutions and bodies, recorded a differentiated attitude towards a person in the AIDS stage.
The doctors of ”Penitentiary Medical Center” SNCO decided to isolate the person and keep him in the inpatient treatment room of the medical unit. The doctors explained to the monitoring group that a person in the AIDS stage cannot serve the sentence with others due to his health status. Even his household items were isolated. In doctors’ opinion, the prisoner should have been kept separately until the end of serving the sentence. The monitoring group found out that the prisoner’s personal file did not indicate his AIDS status as a reason for being kept in the inpatient unit, but other reasons were indicated. Moreover, according to the medical documents, the person was moved to a cell, then to the medical unit, but in reality he always lived in the medical unit. Interestingly, other prisoners were aware of his status, and they avoided communicating with their friend who had AIDS. The latter informed the monitoring group that he was isolated by his own free will. He wanted to serve his sentence with other people, as before, but “being isolated is more appropriate for him, as he saw no other options.” Although the monitoring group has had discussions with the relevant authorities to resolve the registered problems, cases of HIV-positive prisoners being kept in isolation were also recorded in 2023.
“I haven’t made my HIV-positive status a slogan, but…”
38-year-old Hamlet M. has been in prison for 4 years now. He still has 4 years left on the deadline for serving his sentence. He learned about his HIV status very recently, about a year ago.
The doctors at the Criminal-executive Institution did not exclude the possibility of being infected with HIV during the years of his freedom. In his own words, he cannot remember a single instance in which he displayed risky behaviour. “I cannot say how I became a person living with HIV, but that is my fate,” says Hamlet. The documents about his positive HIV status did not even help him get parole. The court rejected his application twice. “They give me medicines and I take them. |There are 4 people in the cell, who know about my health status. When I started taking the medicines, I was getting worse in the initial stage, feeling dizziness and nausea. There are no such feelings now, but it would be better if I were at home, eating normally. After all, my immune system should be strong,” says Hamlet. He is being resocialized in prison, participating in all events. “But I am not lucky, they don’t release me on parole. I haven’t made my HIV-positive status a slogan, but let such people be released, it would be more convenient to be at home. I wish I were under house arrest,” says our interlocutor.
REFERENCE: According to the official letter issued by the ”Penitentiary Medical Center” SNCO, there were people who were conditionally released on parole, due to the clinical stage of HIV (4th clinical stage, complications caused by the infection). In 2023 and as of September 1, 2024, there were no people, who were released on parole on that basis.
The Government of the Republic of Armenia approves the list of serious diseases, which prevent serving the sentence. Irina Manukyan, a member of the Advocates’ Chamber, said that in 2020 her trustee was released from serving the sentence, due to his HIV-positive status. “Doctors very frequently do not indicate the exact characteristics of the disease, which complicates the process. I petitioned for a re-examination and the commission concluded that my defendant must be released from serving the sentence,” mentioned Irina Manukyan. However, her trustee was afraid that one day they would find out about his HIV-positive status, so he left Armenia with his family.
REFERENCE: HIV is an infection that suppresses the immune system, penetrating into the human body, which is unable to protect itself from diseases and infections. That is why it is called the human immunodeficiency virus. However, if a person living with HIV receives appropriate treatment throughout their life, the level of infection declines so much that the density of HIV is suppressed, which in turn reduces the probability of HIV transmission. Even a person living with HIV can have unprotected sexual intercourse, become pregnant, and give birth.
Counteracting by educating as well
One of the challenges in combating HIV in the Republic of Armenia is the stigma and discrimination against people living with HIV in all spheres of life, especially in enclosed institutions. In Sergey Gabrielyan’s viewpoint, who is the head of public observers’ group exercising public control in Criminal-executive institutions and bodies, in order to counteract this challenge, it is necessary to educate not only those serving sentences, but also employees of Criminal-executive institutions, especially doctors and medical staff. “Based on their professional requirements, they must have sufficient knowledge and skills in dealing with people living with HIV,” says Sergey Gabrielyan. Among the alert-applications received by the RA Human Rights Defender’s staff regarding the right to health protection of persons deprived of their liberty, there are complaints from people living with HIV. “Issues related to the rights of people living with HIV in places of imprisonment, as well as the exclusion of discriminatory treatment against them, are in the spotlight of the Human Rights Defender’s attention,” the Human Rights Defender’s staff noted in response to our inquiry.
According to the standards of the
European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT), prisoners must not be isolated from other persons held in prison, unless it is medically or otherwise absolutely necessary. Moreover, the CPT specifically emphasized that there cannot be any medical justification for seclusion of persons serving a sentence simply because they have an HIV positive status…
The names and surnames of prisoners living with HIV have been changed in the article. Their stories are published with their consent.
Armen Davtyan
