Authorities in Bulgaria were doing their best to arrange the return of the six Bulgarian medics sentenced to life imprisonment in Libya for deliberate HIV infection, Prime Minister Sergei Stanishev said.

A serious step forward had been made, and the lives of the six were no longer in danger, he said.

On July 17 2007, Libya’s supreme judicial council commuted the death sentences of the six to life imprisonment. Bulgaria is relying on a 1980s judicial co-operation agreement to arrange the transfer of the medics to Bulgaria.
 
Bulgaria’s officials were in constant touch with their European partners, who had an “extremely important role in the trial,” he said, as quoted by Focus news agency.

Stanishev said that he could not determine a deadline for the return of the medics, but he expected that this would happen as soon as possible.