Mosnews has an interview with the first man in the Soviet Union to be diagnosed with HIV:
Nikolay Panchenko was the first man in the Soviet Union to be diagnosed with HIV. He had to quit his job for being homosexual, then he spent four years in jail for being HIV positive, but today, at 53, he is head of the Community of People Living with HIV/AIDS in St. Petersburg and a picture of health and energy.
Was it a hard time, being HIV-positive and in prison?
Well the authorities actually hoped I would get terminated by the fellow prisoners. I was sent to the penal colony where the authorities expected other prisoners to soak me in gasoline and burn me alive. But it did not work out, I had tea with criminals and we chatted peacefully. So the authorities moved me to a solitary cell.
Wow.
