A 23-year-old gay man has spoken of being beaten by police for having HIV. Fearing reprisals, M has claimed asylum in a European country and spoken anonymously of his ordeal in Turkmenistan to RadioFreeEurope.
M grew up hiding his sexuality in the Central Asian country and left for Russia to pursue a business management course at the age of 18.
In 2019 he was diagnosed with HIV and deported under Russia’s punitive laws banishing foreign nationals with HIV to their former countries.