Estonian court jails man who knowingly spread HIV

TALLINN - The Tallinn-based Harju County Court on Friday handed down a jail sentence of two years and eight months to a man who had unprotected sex with several women after learning that he was infected with the HI virus, and infected two women with the virus.

The court found the 34-year-old man, Anton, guilty of causing health damage which resulted in danger to life and long-term health damage and handed him a punishment of two years and eight months in jail. To that a punishment for a previous offense is added, meaning that the man must spend three years and six months in jail.

The time of commencement of the service of the sentence starts from Nov. 23, 2016, when the suspect was arrested.

The court established that Anton was aware of his infection, did not follow a treatment plan, did not take prescribed medication and did not turn up for scheduled check-ups, which means that the probability that the infection will be transmitted was particularly high.

He had unprotected sex with six different partners, whom he did not inform about having the virus.

In two of the women HI virus was found later, which according to the court is long-term health damage that is of permanent nature and poses a danger to life.