Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2007. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
The New York Times - July 29, 2007
Matthew Brunwasser
Libya's foreign minister, Abdelrahman Shalgham, said at a news conference in Tripoli that the workers should have been detained upon their arrival in Bulgaria on Tuesday and not freed in a "celebratory and illegal manner," Agence France-Presse reported.
The medics, five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor, had been sentenced to death twice in Libya after being convicted of intentionally infecting more than 400 Libyan children with H.I.V., the virus that causes AIDS -- a charge that AIDS experts have dismissed as baseless. They were held for eight and a half years before their sentence was commuted this month to life in prison after the families of the children each received $1 million.
The commutation paved the way for their transfer to Bulgaria because, under the terms of a 1984 agreement between Libya and Bulgaria, citizens of one country convicted of crimes in the other can serve sentences in their own nation. The Palestinian doctor was granted Bulgarian citizenship this year.
It was widely expected that Bulgaria would free the medical workers on their return, but Libyan leaders suggested Saturday that they had expected them to serve their time.
"We followed the procedure -- it is Bulgaria that betrayed us," Prime Minister Baghdadi Mahmudi said at the news conference, Agence France-Presse reported.
Libya has sent fellow Arab League members a memorandum calling for the group to adopt a common stand on the dispute, officials there said, the news agency said.
In Sofia, Bulgaria's capital, Kamen Mihov, the prosecutor in charge of the International Legal Assistance Department, said that the pardon of the medics was "absolutely legal and proper" under Bulgarian law and the 1984 accord. Mr. Mihov said the agreement provides that after a prisoner is transferred home, the prisoner becomes subject to the laws of that country.
070729
NYT070722
Copyright © 2007 - The New York Times Company. All Rights Reserved. All New York Times articles contained on the AEGiS web site are protected by United States copyright law and may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, displayed, published or broadcast without the prior written permission of The New York Times Company. You may not alter or remove any trademark, copyright or other notice from copies of the content. However, you may download articles (one machine readable copy and one print copy per page) for your personal, noncommercial use only.
AEGiS is a 501(c)3, not-for-profit, tax-exempt, educational corporation. AEGiS is made possible through unrestricted funding from Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS, Elton John AIDS Foundation, the National Library of Medicine, Pacific Life Foundation and donations from users like you.
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. .