The Czech Republic does not have an HIV-specific criminal law but people have been prosecuted under general disease and harm provisions. The sentence can be increased to up to eight years in certain circumstances including if the act causes serious injury and up to 12 years if the act related to more than one person or causes death. Section of the Code criminalises negligent transmission, punishable by up to one year imprisonment, disqualification or forfeiture of items.
Again, the sentence can be increased to up to six years in certain circumstances including if the act causes serious injury, eight years if they grossly violated public health laws, and 10 years if the act causes the death of more than one person. Furthermore, section of the Code, which relates to causing serious bodily harm, may also be applied. This provision can result in imprisonment ranging from three to 16 years, depending on the circumstances. Under an administrative communicable disease law there is an obligation to undergo medical testing and treatment, refrain from certain activities, and to disclose HIV status to health care providers, at threat of a fine.
Officially, non-disclosure should not result in criminal liability, however the civil society organisation, Czech AIDS Help Society, reported that criminal prosecution occurred in at least one case. In , an amendment to public health law was proposed , which would have allowed the introduction of mandatory HIV testing of some people from high risk groups, including men who have sex with men.
Community advocates mounted a campaign against the amendment and ultimately, the proposal was unsuccessful. Prior to , the Czech Republic had four known cases of HIV criminalisation, none of which resulted in transmission. These included three prosecutions of gay men for HIV exposure , , and , with sentences ranging from five months to three and a half years. The fourth case involved an 18 year old HIV-positive pregnant woman who was prosecuted for having condomless sex without disclosing her HIV status.
Since , there has been a significant surge in HIV-related prosecutions. Between October and December , 15 cases were reported, making the Czech Republic a global HIV criminalisation hotspot, ranked second in the world after Belarus for prosecutions per capita of people diagnosed HIV-positive 5. Further, the report notes that HIV status can also be used as an aggravating factor in sentencing for other offences such as rape and sexual assault. Recent prosecutions have included those of female sex workers , including one woman charged for having condomless oral sex no transmission , who had her sentence reduced by the High Court to five years.
