Dec. 8
LIBYA:
Libya may reconsider death sentences in HIV case
Libyan foreign minister Abdelrahman Shalgham has announced that his
country's government may reconsider the death sentences of5 Bulgarian
health workers convicted of deliberately infecting more than 400 children
with HIV if the children's families receive financial compensation from
Bulgaria. A Libyan court in May sentenced the health workers to death in a
trial that lasted nearly 5 years because of repeated delays. "There are 3
problems at stake: the families of the children who died of AIDS, the sick
children, and the Bulgarian nurses," Shalgham said on Sunday. "If the
families of the victims are compensated and the sick treated in
cooperation with the European Union, then the case of the Bulgarian nurses
could be reexamined."
Bulgarian deputy foreign minister Gergana Grancharova said she was pleased
that the Libyan government was willing to reconsider the death sentences
given to the health workers but noted that "the issue about compensation
as a way of buying off the freedom of the Bulgarian medics is not
Bulgaria's agenda, considering the fact that compensations mean
recognition of guilt in principle."
The health workers were convicted of deliberately infecting more than 400
children with HIV while working at a hospital in Benghazi. Libyan leader
Mu'ammar Gadhafi had accused the health workers of collaborating with the
CIA and the Israeli secret service to kill the children to destabilize the
country, but he eventually backed off that claim. Health experts testified
at the health workers' trial that the HIV infections were likely caused by
unsanitary conditions at a hospital in Benghazi and also likely occurred
before the health workers arrived there.
(source: The Advocate)
