Kalmykia: HIV-infected convict achieves his verdict commuted

The Supreme Court (SC) of Kalmykia has commuted the sentence of an HIV-infected convict, assigning him four years of freedom restriction instead of forced labour.

The “Caucasian Knot” has reported that Yuri Mikhailov, who is serving his sentence in Elista, after staying in the Novorossiysk SIZO (pre-trial prison) and in colonies of Kabardino-Balkaria and Kalmykia, got HIV infection and hepatitis. He demanded compensation for inadequate custody conditions. Besides, Mikhailov asked the court to replace his forced labour for a more lenient sanction. The Elista City Court rejected his claim, but the convict appealed against the rejection.

Yuri Mikhailov asserts that with his illnesses, it is very difficult to work in forced labour at a construction site. At the same time, he could not refuse the work; otherwise it would have been treated as non-compliance with the conditions of forced labour, and he would be sent back to the colony.

He had two years, 11 months and 20 days of his left, but since the freedom restriction is a milder form of punishment, the minimum sentence under it could be four years, and that’s what the court gave him.

“Now, I will have to report once a month and not travel outside the republic; and so on for four years. But I will be able to live as a normal civilian and work full-time – not for the minimum wage, but for more adequate salary; I was very happy,” Yuri Mikhailov has concluded.

“I said in court that I had realized everything, took the path of correction, and that after I moved from the colony to forced labour, got married, everything went on for the better,” he has added.