Chicago Tribune - July 24, 2007
Tom Hundley, Tribune foreign correspondent

But not before the government of Libyan strongman Muammar Qadhafi negotiated a settlement that ranged from $400 million in cash payments for the children's families to a pledge to help restore Libya's archeological sites.

The deal was finalized early today by European Union Foreign Affairs Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner and Cecilia Sarkozy, the wife of French President Nicolas Sarkozy. The prisoners were released at 5:45 a.m. local time and immediately boarded a French government plane for Sofia, the Bulgarian capital.

The six had been tried and convicted on charges of deliberately infecting the children at a Libyan hospital and ultimately sentenced to death. The death sentences were commuted to life imprisonment last week after initial agreement on the $400 million compensation package for the families.

Ostensibly, the prisoners were being returned to Bulgaria to serve out the rest of their sentences, but upon landing in Sofia, they received a presidential pardon. Ashraf al-Hajuj, the Palestinian doctor, was granted Bulgarian citizenship last month.

"Led by the firm conviction in the innocence of the Bulgarian citizens sentenced in Libya and fulfilling his constitutional rights, the president signed a decree for pardon and releases them of their sentences," Foreign Minister Ivailo Kalfin said.

In Paris, President Sarkozy insisted that neither France nor the European Union has paid "the slightest financial compensation" to Libya, and hinted that the oil-rich emirate of Qatar had been instrumental in settling Libya's monetary demands. Sarkozy also confirmed that he and Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner would be flying to Libya Wednesday to begin normalizing relations with Europe.

Financial details have yet to be made clear. The $400 million figure--approximately $1 million for the family of each infected child--was announced last week after protracted negotiations between the EU and the Libyan government. The money will come from a special fund set up two years ago by the EU, the U.S., Libya and Bulgaria. Seif al-Islam, Qadhafi's son, said the payouts to the families would be financed by debt forgiveness to the Libyan government.

In addition, the deal calls for normalization of Libya's political and trade relations with the EU, including pledges to open European markets to Libyan agricultural and fishery products, grants for Libyans to study in Europe, and technical assistance for the restoration of archaeological sites.

Moving with what some critics have called "indecent haste," European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said the EU would act quickly to restore political and trade relations with Libya, something both sides have been eager to do for several years.

"Our relations with Libya were to a large extent blocked by the non-settlement of this medics issue," Barroso told reporters in Brussels.

Although the deal is already being criticized as a form of blackmail, Robin Shepherd, an analyst at Chatham House, a London think tank, said, "You have to understand that Europe feels a tremendous sense of vulnerability to Russia for its oil and gas, and Libya represents an opportunity for diversification that is very tempting."

For the five Bulgarian nurses and the Palestinian doctor, the deal brings an end to their long personal nightmare. Their ordeal began in Feb. 1999, a few months after a Libyan magazine reported that scores of children who had been treated at the Benghazi Children's Hospital had been infected with HIV.

The Libyan government's first response was to shut down the magazine. Next it began rounding up foreign medical personnel--Poles, Hungarians, Filipinos and a group of 23 Bulgarian nurses who had been recruited to work at the hospital.

A World Health Organization team that investigated the epidemic quickly concluded that the infection had been spread by poor sanitary conditions at the hospital and the reuse of syringes. In all, more than 400 children had been infected; about 50 have already died.

The Libyan government alleged an elaborate conspiracy theory, accusing the Bulgarians of acting secretly at the behest of the CIA and Israel.

"They carried out an experiment on these children," Qadhafi told leaders at an African summit on the HIV/AIDS.

The five Bulgarians and the Palestinian doctor were formally charged in March 1999. All of them signed "confessions," which they later said had been coerced by torture.

Their first trial, before a Libyan "People's Court," ended inconclusively when the court declared it had no jurisdiction. A second trial, in 2003 before a criminal court, included testimony from Professor Luc Montagnier, the famed French AIDS expert, who said the outbreak was accidental and that it began at least a year before the Bulgarian nurses had been hired.

The court nevertheless found all of the defendants guilty. In May 2004 they were sentenced to death by firing squad. Libyan Foreign Minister Abdul-Rahman Shalqam suggested the death sentences could be "re-examined" if the victims were compensated.

The Bulgarian government at first rejected the idea of paying what it called "blood money" for the release of the nurses. But the idea of monetary compensation for murder--something that is generally at odds with Western notions of jurisprudence--is specifically allowed by the Quran and accepted in some Muslim legal systems. It allows the relatives of the victim to waive the punishment of the guilty in exchange for financial compensation.

Variations on this concept also can be found in the West, and it came as no surprise when Qadhafi linked the case of the Bulgarian nurses to the 2002 court settlement of the 1988 bombing of Pan Am flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, when Libya agreed to pay $2.7 billion to the families of the 269 victims. Qadhafi proposed the same amount, $2.7 billion, to settle the nurses' case.

The case was appealed to the Libyan Supreme Court, which revoked the death sentences and ordered a new trial. But the retrial, in December 2006, produced the same guilty verdict and the same sentence. The case was again appealed to the Supreme Court, and earlier this month the high court upheld the verdict and the sentence.

The $400 million compensation package was announced by the Libyan government and accepted by the families of the infected children last week. Later the same day, the Libyan government commuted the death sentences to life imprisonment, and that opened the door to today's deal.

"I waited so long for this moment," said Snezhana Dimitrova, one of the freed nurses, as she fell into the embrace of family members at the Sofia airport.

Kristiana Valcheva, another nurse, said she couldn't believe that she was finally standing on Bulgarian soil.

"Now I will try to get my previous life back," she told reporters at the airport.

070724
CT070710

Always watch for outdated information. This article first appeared in 2007. This material is designed to support, not replace, the relationship that exists between you and your doctor.

AEGiS presents published material, reprinted with permission and neither endorses nor opposes any material. All information contained on this website, including information relating to health conditions, products, and treatments, is for informational purposes only. It is often presented in summary or aggregate form. It is not meant to be a substitute for the advice provided by your own physician or other medical professionals. Always discuss treatment options with a doctor who specializes in treating HIV.

Copyright ©1980, 2007. AEGiS. 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. .