Deputy Foreign Minister Feim Chaushev awarded international AIDS expert Luc Montagnier Foreign Ministry’s Golden laurel branch decoration for his work on proving the innocence of the six Bulgarian medics in Libya.

The medics were accused of deliberate HIV infection of more than 400 children in a hospital in Libya’s Benghazi. Montagnier investigated the HIV infection and repeatedly said that the infection resulted from poor hygiene in the hospital.

In his welcoming speech, Chaushev emphasised the merits of proving the innocence of the medics, a Foreign Ministry press release said.

Chaushev said that Montagnier would continue his efforts and sooner or later the conclusions of his expertise will be confirmed and Libya would accept them.

Montagnier confirmed that the scientific efforts to prove the innocence of the medics would continue until they were universally recognised.

He stressed the help he received from Bulgarian experts and the international community.