The case of the six Bulgarian medics sentenced to life imprisonment in Libya was now a purely political question, Bulgaria’s Foreign Minister Ivailo Kalfin said.

The judicial system can no longer be an excuse for Libya’s authorities, Kalfin told Bulgarian National Radio (BNT).

Bulgaria’s medics were sentenced to death for deliberate HIV infection of more than 400 children. On July 17 2007, Libya’s supreme judicial council commuted their sentences to life imprisonment after the families of the infected children accepted a financial settlement. Bulgaria is currently trying to bring the nurses home on the basis of a judicial exchange agreement between Libya and Bulgaria.

On July 23 2007, the EU’s General Affairs and External Relations Council will discuss the case of the medics. The main aim of the discussion will be the consolidation of the EU position in the case.

Relations between the EU and Libya will also be discussed and intensified, but in the context of the Bulgarian medics being freed.

According to Kalfin, Libya had received the most important message, that it would receive help from the EU.