SOFIA, 30 November 2005 — Libya could quash death sentences against five Bulgarian nurses jailed for infecting hundreds of children with HIV if the victims receive ample humanitarian aid, Bulgarian media reported yesterday. Convicted for deliberately starting an epidemic that has killed at least 40 children, the nurses are at the center of a standoff threatening Tripoli’s efforts to renew ties with the West after decades of diplomatic isolation.
Bulgaria’s allies the United States and the European Union say the medics are innocent and the poor Balkan state has rejected paying billions of euros in “blood money” to save them, saying to do so would be an admission of guilt. Libyan Foreign Minister Mohammed Abdel-Rahman Shalgam said a humanitarian aid package being arranged by Bulgaria and its partners could solve the dispute.
“In Islamic law we have the so called ‘blood money’, which can help those who suffer,” Bulgarian daily Standart quoted Shalgam as saying at the Euro-Mediterranean summit in Barcelona after meeting his Bulgarian counterpart.
“For the ill children we should secure medicine and good hospitals. In that case the death sentences will drop automatically.” But Bulgarian Foreign Minister Ivailo Kalfin said striking a deal would be more complicated than just agreeing a sum.
