'High price' for Aids nurses
2005-12-23 13:47
Sofia - Bulgaria will have to pay "a very high price" to win the release of five Bulgarian nurses facing the death sentence in Libya on charges of injecting children with Aids-contaminated blood, Bulgarian president Georgy Parvanov said on Friday.
Parvanov did not say what kind of "price" he meant.
He said negotiations between Bulgaria and Libya for the release of the nurses were well-advanced.
Parvanoc said: "There is light at the end of the tunnel. I have reasons to expect progress in the talks that would lead to a breakthrough, and to the long-awaited positive outcome."
The nurses, as well as a Palestinian doctor, were sentenced to death in May 2004 for "knowingly" infecting 426 children with the HIV-virus at a hospital in Benghazi.
Fifty of the children have already died of the disease.
The six have spent almost seven years in a Libyan prison. They are appealing the court ruling on the testimony of Western medical experts, who say the six are scapegoats for poor hygiene at the hospital.
The medics' cause has also been championed by the European Union and the United States.
Libya's Supreme Court will hear their appeal on Sunday.
Parvanov said: "I sincerely hope that this would be their last Christmas in Libya".
Sofia has recently encouraged moves to improve relations with Libya. Libya has suggested the death sentences could be lifted if Bulgaria provided medical care for the HIV-infected children.
Last week representatives of a Bulgarian-Libyan friendship committee visited Libya to meet the families of children from the Benghazi hospital and discuss measures which might secure the release of the nurses.