“When they applied, they had been on a hunger strike for two or three days, and after that they kept it on for more than 20 days, drinking only water and tea,” says Ivan Anoshkin, UnMode representative in Russia. He met them at the end of May 2022 – three guys were staying in Togliatti Temporary Detention Center for Foreign Citizens (TDCFC) for about six months.
The guys said that the reason for the measures like this was desperation because of inability to obtain any medical assistance.
“Two of them are HIV-infected, they took ART (antiretroviral therapy) in the prison, but the legislation of the Russian Federation does not provide the treatment like this in TDCFC. The guys are waiting for deportation, but they cannot be deported. They are still there without medical care,” says Ivan.
UnMode comments:
Russian legislation does not provide for the provision of treatment for foreign citizens with a confirmed HIV status. Nevertheless, prisoners in the colonies must receive diagnostics and drugs for the treatment of HIV infection. Theoretically, the TDCFC is not a deprivation of liberty, but a place where people are waiting for deportation; in fact, this is a prison where, apart from emergency care, people do not receive anything. The deportation process has always been long, could take up to 2 months on average, but we also know of cases where people have been there for more than a year. Such people cannot even receive paid medical care for HIV infection, since this issue has not been settled either. But even if this issue can be resolved now, mobile laboratories and doctors will require significant costs, and most of the former foreign prisoners do not have funds, their relatives are in another country, and people continue to lose their health while in prison. Unfortunately, the processes of damage to the body by HIV infection without treatment is almost irreversible. TDCFC in Russia for HIV-positive foreigners is a place without hope. Now, in the conditions of war, the Russian authorities cannot ensure the deportation of Ukrainian citizens to their homeland, people are actually doomed to death. The issue of providing for Ukrainians living with HIV and other diseases that require constant treatment has not been resolved.
“We wrote a lot of complaints, the guys themselves turned to the prosecutor’s office, to human rights organizations, but there are no results, there is still no treatment, which means that the hunger strike has not helped. One of the guys has a serious condition – herpes zoster, that brings him unbearable pain, he is often called an ambulance, because there is not even a nurse at TDCFC,” Ivan continues.
In the process of working on this case, we find out a number of problems related to the imperfection of the law on the treatment of HIV infection for people who are in the TDCFC. In the meantime, the health of patients was rapidly deteriorating, in order to prevent the worst case scenario, we applied to the Patient Control organization. Thanks to their quick response, we were able to receive the necessary life-saving treatment for 3 months. One of the guys has already started treatment, but the length of his stay is not defined.
UnMode comments:
In such a situation, first of all, it is necessary to find a human rights activist who will help draw attention to the situation through the media and other channels. It makes sense to apply to the Commissioner for Human Rights in the region (contacts must be on the information board and are available to those contained in the TDCFC, this is rather necessary to fix violations of the rights of foreign citizens, and the inaction of the authorities.
Each case is individual, it all depends on the legal status of a citizen and his relatives in Russia, on the person’s desire to stay in Russia or leave the country as soon as possible. In today’s situation, citizens of Ukraine living with HIV need to appeal the detention in the TDCFC in court, justifying the impossibility of receiving life-saving treatment there, we know of several positive examples in different regions of Russia. We are also ready to conduct a free anonymous consultation.
While working on this case, Ivan learned that in the next cell, the convicts also tried to draw attention to their problem, but, unfortunately, without a succes.
“Many citizens of Ukraine stayed in the cells, one day they started a riot, began to smash the cells, damaged their veins, screaming “Glory to Ukraine” through the window. As a result, the administration called the special police troops and firefighters. Judging by the sounds from the cell the prisoners were severely beaten. Now the authorities want to charge everyone with on damage to the prison property with punishment from 3 to 5 years in the jail, ”says Ivan.
Now UnMode, together with colleagues, prepare a complaint to the UN Human Rights Committee (HRC) due to the lack of access to vital drugs, and Ivan also plans to apply to the local court.
https://www.svoboda.org/a/huzhe-esli-otvezut-pod-bomby-golodovka-byvshih-zaklyuchennyh/31892410.html