Overview
Under the guise of COVID-19 prevention, on 31 March 2020, the Polish government amended the country’s HIV-specific penal provisions, increasing the penalty for HIV exposure from a maximum of 3 years to a maximum of 8 years’ imprisonment. The penalty for exposure to other STIs and/or infectious diseases was also increased from a fine or one year’s imprisonment to a maximum of 6 years, with a new provision providing up to 10 years in prison if more than two people are exposed.
This amendment changed Poland’s 1997 HIV-specific criminal law, under which one person is known to have been prosecuted: a high-profile 2007 case involving a Cameroonian refugee who was a poet and human rights activist. The man was accused of transmitting HIV to “up to 40 women” by having condomless sex with them without disclosing his HIV status. He died while his trial was underway, in October 2008.
Laws
Criminal Code Art. 161. Exposure to infection
§ 1. Who, knowing that he is infected with HIV, directly exposes another person to such infection,shall be subject to the penalty of deprivation of liberty for a term of between 6 months and 8 years.
§ 2. Who, knowing that he is affected by a venereal or contagious disease, is a serious incurable disease or real life-threatening, exposes another person directly to infection with such disease, shall be punishable by imprisonment from 3 months to 5 years.
§ 3. If the perpetrator of the act specified in § 2 exposes many people to infection, shall be punishable by imprisonment from 1 to 10 years .
§ 4. prosecution of the offense specified in § 1 and 2 at the request of the victim.
Criminal Code Art. 161. Exposure to infection
Article 161
Exposure to infection
1. Who, knowing that he is infected with HIV, directly exposes another person to such infection, is subject to the penalty of deprivation of liberty for up to 3 years.
2. Who, knowing that he is affected by a venereal or infectious disease, a serious incurable or life-threatening disease, exposes another person directly to such a disease, is subject to a fine, restriction of liberty or imprisonment for a year.
3. Prosecution of the offense specified in § 1 or 2 takes place at the request of the injured party.
Acknowledgements
Our thanks to Magdalena Ankiersztejn-Bartczak at the Foundation for Social Education for her research assistance in confirming the current relevant legislation.
