BULGARIA: Bulgaria said yesterday it would help set up an international fund for the families of 426 Libyan children suffering from HIV, amid hopes that five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor condemned to death for infecting them will soon be released.
Bulgaria, the US, Britain and the European Commission agreed to establish the fund, after officials in the north African state suggested treatment for the children and compensation for their relatives could win the medics' freedom.
They were arrested in 1999 and sentenced to death last year, despite claims that their confessions were elicited through torture, and testimony from international HIV experts that poor hospital hygiene caused the children's infection.
After talks between relatives of the nurses and the infected children, along with EU and Libyan officials, the medics' next appeal was brought forward a month to Christmas Day, prompting hopes that their release may be imminent.
"The international fund will be set up to support the families in Benghazi as part of international efforts to find a solution to the situation that is acceptable to all parties, following the tragic HIV outbreak in Benghazi," Bulgaria's foreign ministry said in a statement.
The US and EU have warned President Muammar Gadafy that the case risks Libya's rapprochement with the West, but analysts say he risks enraging the city of Benghazi if he releases the nurses. Bulgarian President Georgi Parvanov said yesterday that Sofia would have to pay "a very high price" to win their release.
"There is light at the end of the tunnel," he added. "I sincerely hope that this would be their last Christmas in Libya."
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