South Korean Prisoner Infects Himself With HIV in Bid to Win Release
A 40-year-old South Korean man serving a life sentence for murder allegedly intentionally infected himself with HIV in an attempt to get released from prison, Agence France-Presse reports. Na Seung-Doo, a South Korean justice ministry official, said that the former gang leader tested positive for HIV in December after testing negative for the virus the month before. He allegedly cut an HIV-positive inmate in the face and took blood from him with a syringe. Although South Korean law allows officials to suspend jail sentences if an inmate has a terminal illness and faces "imminent death," Na said authorities had "no plan to set [the man] free at the moment as he is not facing death." He added that the case "is under probe as we suspect he may have intentionally infected himself with [HIV] to get released from prison" (Agence France-Presse, 1/30).
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