TRIPOLI, 19 July 2007 — Libya said yesterday the ball is in Europe’s court over the fate of six foreign medics reprieved from a death sentence for infecting children with the AIDS virus but who are still anxiously waiting to return home after eight years behind bars.
Libya’s highest judicial body on Tuesday commuted to life in prison the death sentences of the five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor after a multimillion-dollar compensation deal was hammered out with victims’ families.
A further obstacle was cleared yesterday when another Libyan court cleared the six of defamation, a charge brought by a senior police officer after they claimed their initial “confessions” had been extracted under torture.
But Libyan Foreign Minister Abdelrahaman Shalgham said the case was still “not closed” and that Tripoli was still awaiting guarantees regarding the treatment of the infected children. “The ball is in the court of Bulgaria and the European Union,” he said.
The six medics, who have been on death row since 2004, could serve out their sentences in Bulgaria, as the two countries have an extradition treaty and the Palestinian was recently granted Bulgarian citizenship. Shalgham told journalists that talks will take place shortly on how existing EU commitments will be met, without providing any further details.
Tripoli and Sofia set up a compensation fund for the children, who were infected in a hospital in the Mediterranean city of Benghazi, in 2005 under EU auspices. The Qaddafi Foundation run by Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi’s son Seif Al-Islam that has been involved in mediating the crisis said the compensation amounts to about one million dollars per child. “The question of time is important, but it must be addressed by all parties and not just Libya,” Shalgham said.
In an interview with Bulgarian radio, EU external affairs commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner stressed the bulk of the compensation paid to the families was “Libyan money.” “I think we on our side have done the part of our deal, which is not paying the big money. This is indeed by the Qaddafi Foundation and this is Libyan money,” she said.
Ferrero-Waldner said the main EU contribution was working for an “action plan” to upgrade the hospital, which was comparable to “European standards.” A special envoy to Ferrero-Waldner said, meanwhile, that the deal was reached largely thanks to the efforts of the EU official and former British Prime Minister Tony Blair. “The two political figures who did the work were Mrs. Ferrero-Waldner and Mr. Blair,” the envoy, Marc Pierini, told AFP.
Separately, a source told AFP that French President Nicolas Sarkozy had agreed during a telephone conversation with Qaddafi to visit Tripoli on July 24. Bulgaria, meanwhile, said it had begun steps to secure the transfer of the six medics, and that the relevant documents would be sent to Tripoli yesterday.
“The procedure around the transfer ... is already under way. I will request that the medical workers be allowed to serve out their sentences at home,” chief prosecutor Boris Velchev said.
