Supporters are to hold a vigil outside a detention centre where an asylum seeker was found hanged on the day he was to be deported.

The body of Mikhail Bodnarchuk, 42, was discovered by fellow inmates last Friday at Haslar, a former prison in Gosport near Portsmouth.

Members of the public are gathering there at 1000 GMT on Friday - inmates held their own memorial service at the chapel on Thursday.

Mr Bodnarchuk fled his homeland of the Ukraine for Britain in September 2000, but was refused asylum and was to be returned on 31 January.

This is a story that needs telling to counter the current alarm about asylum seekers Michael Woolley, Haslar Visitors

His room mate, also from the Ukraine, noticed he was missing from his bed in the early hours and went looking for him.

He found his friend, who had a wife and two children in the Ukraine, hanging from his shoelaces in a nearby toilet.

Michael Woolley of Haslar Visitors told BBC News Online: "We are all very sad about this and take note of the fact the Home Office report on the Ukraine is absolutely appalling.

"This highlights the fact that asylum seekers are not terrorists, but terrified.

'Desperate'

"They hang on for months in grim, comfortless places like Haslar - whatever staff do to make things better - because they are desperate.

"This is a story that needs telling to counter the current alarm about asylum seekers."

One inmate said: "We are all sad and depressed about this.

"Everyone liked Mikhail. He was quiet and always willing to give you a hand."

A Home Office spokeswoman said: "The coroner has been informed and there will be an inquest into the cause of death."

The Prison Service has also asked an outside investigator to carry out a inquiry.

A recent Home Office report on the Ukraine found human rights abuses by the authorities were common.

Berkut, the country's special riot police, tortured prisoners as part of training exercises, the report said.