Families of Aids children condemn release of medics

THE families of the children infected with the Aids virus in a Libyan hospital voiced outrage yesterday at the pardon and release of six medics who were flown to Bulgaria a day earlier.

“We deeply condemn and are deeply disappointed at the absurdity and disrespect shown by the Bulgarian presidential pardon,” said the Libyan Association for the Families of HIV-Infected Children.

The five nurses and one doctor were flown to Bulgaria on Tuesday and immediately pardoned by Bulgarian President Georgi Parvanov. Their release was secured during a three-day trip to Libya by French first lady Cecilia Sarkozy and the European Union’s commissioner for foreign affairs, Benita Ferrero-Waldner.

The medics had twice been sentenced to death for allegedly deliberatley infecting some 426 children in the coastal city of Benghazi in the late 1990s — charges that were widely denounced abroad as false. Before their release, Libya commuted their terms to life in prison.

The medics have said their confessions were extracted under torture.

Libya’s decision to allow the six to return to Bulgaria — nominally to serve out the rest of their life sentences — came after months of pressure from the US and the EU, who made clear to Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi that resolving the issue was key to normalising relations with the international community.