TRIPOLI, Dec 7 (AFP) - Libya Tuesday listed three conditions under which it is prepared to drop charges against five Bulgarian nurses condemned to death on suspect charges of spreading AIDS.
The five nurses and a Palestinian doctor were condemned to death in May by a Libyan tribunal which found that they had infected hundreds of children in a hospital in Benghazi in northern Libya with the HIV virus.
But medical experts testified at the trial that the infections were the result of poor hygiene at the hospital and that the epidemic was under way before the nurses arrived.
"We have handed over a letter to a delegation of European Union doctors with three demands," Ramadan Al-Fitouri, head of an association of families of the infected children, told reporters.
"The first is to care for the infected children in special medical centres in Europe, the second is the construction of a specialized hospital in the town of Benghazi and the third is to supply all the necessary medicines and the payment of adequate compensation, in exchange for which we will drop the case against the nurses."
He said the amount of compensation is negotiable.
On Sunday, Libyan Foreign Minister Abdelraham Shalgham said the verdict against the nurses could be overturned if Bulgaria paid compensation to the families of AIDS-infected children, 46 of whom have died so far.
A day later, the Bulgarian government rejected the proposal, saying it would not pay compensation because it did not believe the nurses were guilty.
All six defendants pleaded not guilty to the charges and two of the nurses and the doctor said during the trial that they were tortured into making confessions.
They are appealing against their sentences and the European Union has called for the case to be resolved as soon as possible.
Earlier Tuesday, US Secretary of State Colin Powell said the United States would continue to push for the release of the six medics.
"We have been pressing the Libyans on every occasion to resolve this question and release the Bulgarian nurses," Powell told reporters after meeting with Bulgarian Foreign Minister Solomon Passy in Sofia.
"We think the facts in this case are clear," he said. "We hope that justice will be served and compassion will be shown."
041207
AF041257
©AFP 2004.. All Rights Reserved. AFP articles contained on the AEGiS web site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, displayed, published or broadcast without AFP's prior written permission. You may make one copy of each article for your personal, non-commercial use only; more copies would require AFP's prior written permission. http://www.afp.com/
AEGiS is a 501(c)3, not-for-profit, tax-exempt, educational corporation. AEGiS is made possible through unrestricted grants from Boehringer Ingelheim, Elton John AIDS Foundation, the National Library of Medicine, Bridgestone Firestone Trust Fund, and donations from users like you. Always watch for outdated information. This article first appeared in 2004. This material is designed to support, not replace, the relationship that exists between you and your doctor.
©1990, 2004 - AEGiS. AEGiS presents published material, reprinted with permission and neither endorses nor opposes any material. All materials appearing on AEGiS are protected by copyright as a collective work or compilation under U.S. copyright and other laws and are the property of AEGiS, or the party credited as the provider of the content.
