The nurses speak at a news conference on arrival in Sofia

BULGARIAN MEDICS PARDONED UPON RETURN

July 24, 2007: five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor were pardoned by President Georgi Parvanov upon their arrival in Sofia after spending 8 years in prison in Libya. The medics, who were sentenced to life in prison for allegedly contaminating children with the AIDS virus, were welcomed on the tarmac by family members.
Libya accused the six of deliberately infecting more than 400 Libyan children with HIV. Fifty of the children died. The medics, jailed since 1999, deny infecting the children and say their confessions were extracted under torture. French President Nicolas Sarkozy said neither France nor the EU paid any money to Libya for the medics' release. The deal for the medics' release included measures to improve the medical care of children with AIDS in Libya, the French presidential palace said, without giving details.
Bulgaria granted citizenship to the Palestinian doctor, Ashraf al-Hazouz, last month. (Sources: Guardian Unlimited, 24/07/2007)