Soviets Order AIDS Testing : Knowing Transmission Will Mean Prison Term

The Soviet Union today ordered compulsory testing of citizens and foreigners suspected of carrying AIDS and threatened up to eight years imprisonment for anyone who knowingly infects someone else.

The decree by the Supreme Soviet, the nominal parliament, outlining the tough measures followed a steady increase in the number of cases of acquired immune deficiency syndrome reported in the country.

“The citizens of the U.S.S.R., as well as foreign citizens and stateless persons living or staying in the territory of the U.S.S.R., may be bound to take a medical test for the AIDS virus,” the decree said.

If someone suspected of having the disease refuses to have a test, he can be taken to a clinic by health authorities, aided by police, said the decree, carried by the Tass news agency.

Foreigners can be expelled from the country if they refuse to take the test, it said.

“Deliberate exposure of another person to the danger of being infected with AIDS shall be punished with up to five years in prison,” the decree said. “The infection of another person with AIDS by a person aware of having AIDS shall be punished by up to eight years in prison.”