LIBYA: Bulgaria implored the EU yesterday to help free five nurses who face execution in Libya for allegedly infecting hundreds of children with the HIV virus, writes Daniel McLaughlin
Deputy Foreign Minister Ms Guergana Grancharova rejected a Libyan suggestion that Sofia pay compensation to help secure the nurses' release, but insisted that talks were possible with Tripoli if it admitted "the total absence of proof" against the women.
"Such dialogue must be co-ordinated by the European Union," Ms Grancharova said. "But there is no question of paying indemnities to buy the freedom of our nurses, because this would amount to an acknowledgment of their guilt, which is impossible. We are convinced that they are innocent."
The five were convicted last May, along with a Palestinian doctor, of intentionally injecting more than 400 children with HIV-tainted blood at a hospital in the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi. At least 46 of the children have since died of AIDS.
The medics were sentenced to death by firing squad after giving confessions which rights groups say were elicited by torture. They say the case - which Washington and Brussels have condemned - is an attempt to cover up unsafe practices in Libyan hospitals.
Under mounting international pressure, Libya's Foreign Minister, Mr Abdel-Rahman Shalgam, suggested that a deal could be struck to save the nurses. Libya wants the Bulgarian government to talk directly to the families of the victims and agree on financial compensation, Mr Shalgam said.