Galery

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The news that a Russian prostitute carries the AIDS virus shook the tranquillity of over 700 men in Athens this weekend. She was working in an illegal brothel in the area of ​​St. Panteleimon in the capital. Police say she pursued her profession while being consciously aware that she was carrying the deadly virus. The authorities distributed pictures of Tatiana Buktoiarova in the media and urged her customers to turn to specialized centres for infectious diseases in order to check whether they are infected with AIDS. As a result of the disclosure of the issue, in less than two days over 700 people indicated that they have used the services of this brothel. 15 clients of Tatiana did not use a condom during intercourse and three of them have already started prophylactic treatment.

Tatiana was born on 9 September, 1990 and a year and a half ago she came to work in Greece. She was living in the Galatsi neighbourhood and worked in a brothel on St. Panteleimon square. This brother had been closed three times by the Office of Public Health in recent years. According to the data given to the press she knew that she was HIV positive before coming into the country. However, according to police, she knowingly continued to offer her services without protection, making her an intruder in the face of the law. As a result, Tatiana was charged with inflicting grievous bodily harm on her customers and spreading debauchery.

The case against the Russian prostitute created great confusion in the public domain. On one hand the question remains on how a brothel, which was closed three times for bad health standards, still continues to operate. On the other hand, we cannot help but be puzzled by the "courage" of a series of men, who do not use condoms when visiting a brothel. And last but not least another question remains: "Is this the first prostitute in Greece, who is carrying the AIDS virus or does this public disclosure of the case serve to gain electoral popularity for the current Minister of Civil Defence?"

In the last weeks before the early elections, Minister Michalis Chrysohoidis has become very active. In 2009 he started as head of the Ministry for Citizens Protection, then he passed through the Ministry of Development and Competitiveness and at the beginning of the year he returned to his first position. It seems that after he initiated camps for illegal immigrants, he decided to fight against illegal prostitution as well. To find out more information we called the Representatives of the Centre for combating infectious diseases, where we seek to learn what is the procedure to detect carriers of the AIDS virus and whether this was first discovered case of infected prostitutes in a brothel. Have there been other cases and, if so, then why were they not announced, as in the case of the incident with Tatiana?  

We await their response.