Originally published February 2 2006
Bulgarian nurses convicted of mass HIV infection of Libyan children get a second trial
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
Seven years ago, 426 Libyan children were infected with HIV/AIDS in a hospital in Benghazi, and the blame for this has fallen on a team of Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor, who were alleged to be part of a foreign intelligence conspiracy.
Later this week, officials from the United States, Britain, Bulgaria and Libya are expected to reach agreement on a compensation package that is the reverse image of a similar settlement from five years ago, even if in very different circumstances.
The negotiations in Tripoli, the Libyan capital, are due to resume Dec 28 to agree on financial assistance for the families of 426 Libyan children infected with HIV/AIDS in a hospital in Benghazi, Libya's second-largest city, seven or eight years ago, the exact date being a key factor in the ensuing court case.
From all accounts the money will be paid by Bulgaria, with European Union support, because five Bulgarian nurses working in Libya were originally tried and sentenced to death before a firing squad in connection with the mass infection.
The mirror image is derived the fact that slightly more than a year ago the Libyan government agreed to a $2.7 billion compensation settlement to the American and other families of the 270 victims of the 1988 bombing of Pan Am flight 103, which crashed on the Scottish village of Lockerbie.
This week's expected deal comes after the Libyan Supreme Court on Sunday overturned the death sentences of the five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor and ordered a new trial having found "irregularities" in the old one.
An informed source said the court seemed to have acted independently and was not following "a directive from the tent," that is from Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi, who likes to spend time in a Bedouin tent in the desert.
U.S. Department of State spokesman Justin Higgins welcomed the verdict overturning the death sentences Sunday and said, "A way should be found to allow the medics to return to Bulgaria and Palestine."
The verdict produced a wave of international protest, and a flurry of diplomatic activity by the EU and Washington.
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