The sentencing of the five Bulgarian nurses to death by the Benghazi criminal court sent waves of shock and horror throughout the country. The ghastly words "death by firing squad" provoked reactions from state and religious institutions in Bulgaria, the EU and Amnesty International, all urging the Libyan authorities to intervene and the court to reconsider its decision. Many have discussed publicly the possibility of a reprieve for the medics by Muamar Gadaffi but only time will tell whether this will happen. CHRISTINA DIMITROVA recounts the events of May 6 and all that followed.
AFTER five years and three months of fear and hope, on May 6 the worst possible scenario for the outcome of the trial against the six Bulgarian medics accused of deliberately infecting 426 Libyan children with HIV in the Benghazi children's hospital became reality.
The five nurses, Kristiana Vulcheva, Nassya Nenova, Valentina Siropulo, Valya Chervenyashka, Snejana Dimitrova and the Palestinian doctor, Al Ashraf Al Hadjudj were found guilty by the Benghazi criminal court of deliberately spreading an HIV epidemic and were sentenced to death by firing squad.
The sixth Bulgarian medic, Doctor Zdravko Georgiev, was found guilty of currency speculation, sentenced to four years in prison and fined $500.
As Georgiev has spent five years in custody, he was released immediately after the trial.
Because his passport had expired, however, the Libyan authorities refused to issue him an exit visa and by mid-week he was still in the Bulgarian embassy in Tripoli.
The five nurses and Al Hadjuj were also found guilty of lesser charges such as currency speculation. On these charges, Nenova and the Palestinian doctor were sentenced to three years in jail and fined $400 each.
On the same accusation, Vulcheva was sentenced to four years in prison and fined $500.
The Libyan medics who were accused of malpractice and negligence were found not guilty and released from further culpability in connection with the case.
The fate of the Libyan police officers and prison guards who were accused of torturing the Bulgarians and the Palestinian remained unclear. The court said it was not competent to pronounce on the allegations.
The entire case against the medics was based on their confessions made during the initial interrogations.
These confessions were later withdrawn by the defendants. The use of torture to extract the confessions was one of the main arguments put forward by their lawyers.
The five nurses and Al Hadjudj were also sentenced to pay the families of the infected children compensation, and to pay all court expenses.
The estimated sum is $77 million.
The Libyan lawyer for the Bulgarians, Osman Bizanti, said immediately after the trial that he would take the verdict on appeal to a higher court.
Two days after the verdict, the five nurses signed a statement saying that they did not accept the sentence. This marked the start of the appeal procedure in the Supreme Court in Tripoli.
The earliest possible hearing of the case would be in two months, according to Bizanti.
Under Libyan law, no new evidence may be introduced on appeal.
According to reports in the Bulgarian-language media, among those present in court for the verdict were 15 diplomats, including the ambassadors of Austria, the UK, Greece, Italy, Canada, Switzerland, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Malta and The Netherlands, and representatives of the US, Belgium and France, and many relatives of the infected children.
According to the BBC, right after the guilty verdict, the relatives of the children started chanting "Allah is great".
The shocking news came only minutes after the end of the St. George's military parade in Sofia, and caused anguish and dismay throughout the country.
State officials in Bulgaria unanimously said that the guilty verdict for the five nurses was unacceptable and declared their intention to seek assistance from the country's NATO and EU allies.
In a statement released shortly after the verdict, President Georgi Purvanov said he could not accept the guilt of the Bulgarians to have been proven, given the facts of the case and the opinions of the internationally recognided HIV experts, according to whom the HIV infection was caused by bad hygiene and lack of medical supplies.
"By expressing once more my sympathy for the fate of the six Bulgarians and their families, I want to assure them that the country and its institutions, and I personally, will not weaken our efforts to get a favourable outcome of this painful trial," Purvanov said.
He said he hoped that the higher court would consider fairly all evidence in the case and would issue a just verdict in a timely manner.
Several days after the verdict, Purvanov told journalists that the efforts of "quiet diplomacy" should continue and said he was willing to visit Libya and meet with its leader Muammar Gadaffi.
Government spokesperson Dimitar Tsonev said that the Cabinet found the guilty verdicts completely unacceptable.
Justice Minister Anton Stankov, who is also the head of the interdepartmental committee on the case, said the verdicts were absurd.
"Unfortunately, the Libyan authorities did not wish to find the truth about who infected those children with HIV, and I still maintain that it was not the Bulgarians," Stankov said.
He said that the interdepartmental committee would do everything to facilitate the appeal process.
In an interview with Bulgarian National Radio, Finance Minister Milen Velchev said the state would not spare any efforts and financial means to ensure an adequate defence for the five nurses.
Meanwhile the public expressed its shock at the verdicts by holding silent vigils with candles in Sofia, petitions in the hometowns of the medics, and public prayers for their release.
Some of the relatives of the five nurses blamed the former and the current Government for their inability to solve the problem years ago.
The former Bulgarian lawyer for the six medics, Vladimir Sheitanov, said that Bulgarian diplomats who were serving at the time of the arrest in 1999 should be held responsible for not reacting adequately.
Sheitanov said that the Government should seek the support of the international community before the appeal.
Union of Democratic Forces (UDF) leader Nadezhda Mihailova, who has been repeatedly blamed for not taking proper steps while foreign minister, urged the president and the Government to contact the Libyan authorities and to actively seek the co-operation of NATO and the EU. In her declaration, Mihailova defined the verdict as "ghastly".
The Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) also urged the authorities to seek the help of NATO and the EU.
AFTER five years and three months of fear and hope, on May 6 the worst possible scenario for the outcome of the trial against the six Bulgarian medics accused of deliberately infecting 426 Libyan children with HIV in the Benghazi children's hospital became reality.
The five nurses, Kristiana Vulcheva, Nassya Nenova, Valentina Siropulo, Valya Chervenyashka, Snejana Dimitrova and the Palestinian doctor, Al Ashraf Al Hadjudj were found guilty by the Benghazi criminal court of deliberately spreading an HIV epidemic and were sentenced to death by firing squad.
The sixth Bulgarian medic, Doctor Zdravko Georgiev, was found guilty of currency speculation, sentenced to four years in prison and fined $500.
As Georgiev has spent five years in custody, he was released immediately after the trial.
Because his passport had expired, however, the Libyan authorities refused to issue him an exit visa and by mid-week he was still in the Bulgarian embassy in Tripoli.
The five nurses and Al Hadjuj were also found guilty of lesser charges such as currency speculation. On these charges, Nenova and the Palestinian doctor were sentenced to three years in jail and fined $400 each.
On the same accusation, Vulcheva was sentenced to four years in prison and fined $500.
The Libyan medics who were accused of malpractice and negligence were found not guilty and released from further culpability in connection with the case.
The fate of the Libyan police officers and prison guards who were accused of torturing the Bulgarians and the Palestinian remained unclear. The court said it was not competent to pronounce on the allegations.
The entire case against the medics was based on their confessions made during the initial interrogations.
These confessions were later withdrawn by the defendants. The use of torture to extract the confessions was one of the main arguments put forward by their lawyers.
The five nurses and Al Hadjudj were also sentenced to pay the families of the infected children compensation, and to pay all court expenses.
The estimated sum is $77 million.
The Libyan lawyer for the Bulgarians, Osman Bizanti, said immediately after the trial that he would take the verdict on appeal to a higher court.
Two days after the verdict, the five nurses signed a statement saying that they did not accept the sentence. This marked the start of the appeal procedure in the Supreme Court in Tripoli.
The earliest possible hearing of the case would be in two months, according to Bizanti.
Under Libyan law, no new evidence may be introduced on appeal.
According to reports in the Bulgarian-language media, among those present in court for the verdict were 15 diplomats, including the ambassadors of Austria, the UK, Greece, Italy, Canada, Switzerland, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Malta and The Netherlands, and representatives of the US, Belgium and France, and many relatives of the infected children.
According to the BBC, right after the guilty verdict, the relatives of the children started chanting "Allah is great".
The shocking news came only minutes after the end of the St. George's military parade in Sofia, and caused anguish and dismay throughout the country.
State officials in Bulgaria unanimously said that the guilty verdict for the five nurses was unacceptable and declared their intention to seek assistance from the country's NATO and EU allies.
In a statement released shortly after the verdict, President Georgi Purvanov said he could not accept the guilt of the Bulgarians to have been proven, given the facts of the case and the opinions of the internationally recognided HIV experts, according to whom the HIV infection was caused by bad hygiene and lack of medical supplies.
"By expressing once more my sympathy for the fate of the six Bulgarians and their families, I want to assure them that the country and its institutions, and I personally, will not weaken our efforts to get a favourable outcome of this painful trial," Purvanov said.
He said he hoped that the higher court would consider fairly all evidence in the case and would issue a just verdict in a timely manner.
Several days after the verdict, Purvanov told journalists that the efforts of "quiet diplomacy" should continue and said he was willing to visit Libya and meet with its leader Muammar Gadaffi.
Government spokesperson Dimitar Tsonev said that the Cabinet found the guilty verdicts completely unacceptable.
Justice Minister Anton Stankov, who is also the head of the interdepartmental committee on the case, said the verdicts were absurd.
"Unfortunately, the Libyan authorities did not wish to find the truth about who infected those children with HIV, and I still maintain that it was not the Bulgarians," Stankov said.
He said that the interdepartmental committee would do everything to facilitate the appeal process.
In an interview with Bulgarian National Radio, Finance Minister Milen Velchev said the state would not spare any efforts and financial means to ensure an adequate defence for the five nurses.
Meanwhile the public expressed its shock at the verdicts by holding silent vigils with candles in Sofia, petitions in the hometowns of the medics, and public prayers for their release.
Some of the relatives of the five nurses blamed the former and the current Government for their inability to solve the problem years ago.
The former Bulgarian lawyer for the six medics, Vladimir Sheitanov, said that Bulgarian diplomats who were serving at the time of the arrest in 1999 should be held responsible for not reacting adequately.
Sheitanov said that the Government should seek the support of the international community before the appeal.
Union of Democratic Forces (UDF) leader Nadezhda Mihailova, who has been repeatedly blamed for not taking proper steps while foreign minister, urged the president and the Government to contact the Libyan authorities and to actively seek the co-operation of NATO and the EU. In her declaration, Mihailova defined the verdict as "ghastly".
The Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) also urged the authorities to seek the help of NATO and the EU.
