LILONGWE, 6 April 2010 (PlusNews) - An engagement ceremony has landed a same-sex Malawian couple in jail, propelled their country into international headlines, and pushed men who have sex with men (MSM) further towards society's risky margins.

Steven Monjeza and Tiwonge Chimbalanga were arrested and charged with sodomy and indecency after their public engagement in late December 2009. The case, which has drawn international criticism of Malawi's laws, is set to begin on 6 April after a magistrate decided there was sufficient state evidence to proceed. The couple face up to 14 years in prison if they lose.

The court case - which is rare in a country where most people charged with same-sex acts plead guilty due to lack of legal representation - has sparked intense public scrutiny and police crackdowns, increasing the risk of arrest and harassment for MSM, and decreasing their access to vital HIV prevention services.

"This case has put us in an awkward position in terms of our programming," said Gift Trapence, director of the Centre for the Development of People (CEDEP) a human rights organization.

"Police are more empowered to arrest people, so it is very hard for the MSM community to come to meetings. It's also become very hard even for the organization to distribute HIV/AIDS information [to them] because that will be regarded as promoting something illegal ... that's what the media and the church and the government officials are saying."

CEDEP is one of the few organizations working to prevent HIV among MSM in a country where many believe same-sex practices to be "un-Malawian" and "un-African". In 2008 research by the organization found that HIV prevalence among MSM was about 21 percent, almost double the national average of about 12 percent cited by UNAIDS.