Libya finally commutes death sentence of 6 foreign medics
Afp, Sofia
Bulgaria said yesterday it had begun steps to secure the transfer from Libya of five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor reprieved from death sentences over the infection of children with the AIDS virus."The procedure around the transfer ... is already underway. I will request that the medical workers be allowed to serve out their sentences at home," Chief Prosecutor Boris Velchev said. "The documents with which Bulgaria will request the extradition will be sent today to Libya," Velchev said, adding that the Palestinian doctor, who was recently granted Bulgarian nationality, would be included. Libya's highest judicial body on Tuesday commuted to life in prison the death sentences on the six foreign medics after a multi-million dollar compensation deal was hammered out with victims' families. The six, who have been on death row since 2004, are expected to serve out their sentences in Bulgaria, as the two countries have an extradition treaty. "We see no reasons for Libya to refuse the extradition," Velchev said, while stressing that the treaty provided no mandatory time framework for concluding any prisoner transfer. "If the Libyan side is slow to answer the request, we will keep reminding them repeatedly of the need for an answer," he said. Possible obstacles to a speedy transfer include pending cases against the six medics, including defamation charges brought by senior Libyan police officers over claims that they were tortured while in detention. The family of twin girls infected with AIDS have also brought a civil suit against the six. "Libya decides if the civil suits can hinder the transfer but if there is indeed an obstacle, it is technical and could be overcome," Velchev said. The five nurses and the doctor, who was granted Bulgarian citizenship earlier this year, have been in a Libyan jail since 1999. They were twice convicted of deliberately injecting 438 children with HIV-tainted blood in a hospital in Libya's second city of Benghazi on the Mediterranean coast. The death penalty had been confirmed for a third time by Tripoli's Supreme Court last week. But Libya's top legal body, the Supreme Judicial Council, commuted the death sentences to life in prison Tuesday after the families of the infected children received money under a compensation deal with the charitable Kadhafi foundation. And as the world called on Libya to send the medics home, Bulgaria remained anxious that this was only the beginning of another chapter in their eight-year-long ordeal.
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