HIV inmate: My drugs were withheld

A Canadian man in a British Columbia prison for spreading AIDS has filed a human rights complaint charging corrections staff withheld drugs to treat his HIV. Charles Mzite, who was in Canada as a refugee from Zimbabwe, was convicted in 2009 of having unprotected sex with four women when he knew he had AIDS. He was sentenced to 10 years in prison, the National Post said. For the first two years, he was in a prison outside Victoria where he alleges in a human rights complaint his HIV retroviral drug treatment was interrupted 36 times. He filed his complaint with the provincial Human Rights Tribunal more than two years after leaving the first prison, despite the fact complaints must be filed within six months. However, one tribunal member said an exception should be made to hear Mzite's case, the Post said. During his trial, Victoria Police Sgt. Scott McGregor testified Mzite told him he knew he was HIV-positive as early as 1995 yet continued having unprotected sex through 2007. The Canada Border Services Agency has not yet indicated if it will seek Mzite's deportation once his sentence is completed.