On the night of July 22 2007, European Commission (EC) president Jose Manuel Barroso and French president Nikolas Sarkozy had a series of telephone conversations about the release of the six Bulgarian medics sentenced to life imprisonment in Libya.

Sarkozy and Barroso discussed several times the schedule for a possible agreement by Libya to free the medics, and for their immediate repatriation, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported.

A French presidency representative told AFP that the phone conversations were a continuation of numerous contacts between Barroso and Sarkozy in recent days.

In connection with the medics’ case, French first lady Cecilia Sarkozy was in Libya, accompanied by European External Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner and French presidency general secretary Claude Gueant.

The six Bulgarian medics were sentenced to death for deliberate HIV infection. On July 17 2007, the supreme judicial council in Libya commuted their death verdicts to life imprisonment. Bulgaria has submitted a formal request to Libya to transfer the medics to Bulgaria, and is awaiting an answer.