Latvia delivers first-ever criminal verdict for deliberate spreading of HIV

The Court of First Instance has delivered a first-ever verdict deeming a person guilty for knowingly infecting another person with HIV, the agency LETA reported December 12.

Rīga City Court found the accused guilty and sentenced him to community service for 90 hours. The accused has been found guilty of knowingly infecting his girlfriend with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) between April 2013 and April 2014.

According to the prosecutor, the accused, when he found out he had HIV, confirmed by signature that he had been informed and presented with the rights and obligations of the infected person and pledged to respect them, which is to ensure that the disease is not further spread, and to encourage contacts, or sexual partners, to take an HIV test.

Instead, the accused of contracting HIV failed to alert his girlfriend, with whom he repeatedly entered into sexual intercourse without using the necessary protection.

The court ruled that the defendant had to pay the victim a total damages of €50,000.

Such criminal case in Latvia is the first to result in the prosecution of the person, the completion of pre-trial criminal proceedings, and a conviction at a court of first instance, the Prosecutor's Office notes.

The judgment can still be appealed to Riga Regional Court.

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