EU denies role in Libyan deal
2007-07-16 15:08
Brussels - The European Commission denied on Monday involvement in a compensation deal reached in Libya, which could get six foreign medics off death row.
The five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor were convicted in May 2004 of infecting 438 children with HIV-tainted blood at a hospital in the Mediterranean city of Benghazi.
Libya's Gaddafi Foundation, ran by leader Muammar Gaddafi's son, said on Sunday that the families had accepted compensation of about $1m for each victim.
Christiane Hohmann, the commission's spokesperson on external relations, said: "We were not part of the talks between the foundation and the families.
"The commission will continue to contribute to the Benghazi International Fund, which will help with the medical treatment in the medium and long term of the families and children and support of the Benghazi hospital."
The fund was set up by Libya and Bulgaria in 2005 under the aegis of the European Union. The commission had committed 2.5 million euros to it so far.
Libya's top legal body was set to meet later on Monday to decide whether to confirm or annul death sentences, amid hopes the terms could be commuted to life in prison to be served in Bulgaria.
The six, who had been in prison for eight years, maintained their innocence and said they confessed under duress. Foreign health experts had cited poor hygiene as the probable cause of the epidemic in Benghazi, Libya's second city.