Unsafe injecting drug use is a primary driver of HIV infection in Russia.
The inability of current or former injecting drug users to access prevention and treatment services is compounded by the highly punitive measures meted out by law enforcement, including frequent arrest and incarceration. These trying circumstances led three brave individuals to pursue access to methadone as a legal remedy, without success, in Russia’s domestic legal system. After four years of litigation and evidence collection, all three have taken their cases to Strasbourg, seeking a judgment against Russia’s ban of methadone by the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR).
This information sheet provides some background and a timeline of their case.