An out gay, HIV-positive asylum seeker has been released from a US detention centre after being detained for more than a month.
Denis Davydov arrived in the US from Russia back in 2014, and despite overstaying on a tourist visa, had applied for political asylum within a 1-year deadline.
But the 30-year-old has now been detained in an ICE detention centre for more than a month.
He was arrested when trying to return to Miami from a trip to the US Virgin Islands, and taken to Krome Detention Center.
He had claimed political asylum because of the peril faced by some members of the LGBT+ community in Russia.
According to Sergey Piskunov, Davydov had been given access to his HIV medications in the detention centre but was denied access to a doctor.
“He was awaiting his asylum interview, had a valid employment authorization and A-number, and had no criminal record,” says Piskunov earlier this week who works with RUSA LGBT.
“He’s a gay man and HIV-positive,” Piskunov added. “Russia is not the best place for either of those and he’s a combination of both.”
He went on: “This is one of the reasons we really want to get him out of there,” saying Davydov has “developed a fungal infection [possibly thrush] and has not been able to receive medication for it.”
Davydov had also been on the receiving end of anti-gay slurs from others in the detention centre, says Piskunov.
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