HIV trial in Libya
Furthermore, a controversy has arisen concerning the terms of release, which allegedly include an arms trade as well as a civilian nuclear cooperation agreement signed by French President Nicolas Sarkozy in July 2007.
Some of the world's foremost HIV experts had written to courts and the Libyan government on the medics' behalf, blaming the epidemic on poor hygiene practices in the hospital.
Virologists Luc Montagnier and Vittorio Colizzi, supported the medics' case,[8][9] and reaction to their convictions was swift, with a number of appeals from scientific and human rights organizations, and various official condemnations of the verdict along with diplomatic initiatives.
On 7 March 1999, six members of the group subjected to "precautionary measures" were formally arrested on a warrant in connection with the case of infecting children in Benghazi with HIV.
[18] The group consisted of Ashraf al-Hadzhudzh, a Palestinian intern, and Bulgarian nurses Kristiyana Valtcheva, Nasya Nenova, Valentina Siropulo, Valya Chervenyashka and Snezhana Dimitrova.
[21] In July 2007, Libya announced a settlement had been reached, with $400 million going to the 426 victims' families in exchange for conversion of the nurses' sentences from death to life in prison.
After the 2006 verdict he said, "Organisations like the Arab League, the non-aligned movement and the Islamic Conference said al-Megrahi was a political prisoner and international observers said elements of foreign intelligence were present at the trial... Nobody asked for his release.
Her husband, Emil Uzunov, in a 2003 interview with Bulgarian National Radio (BNR) said that the defense lawyer Bizanti was one of the torturers who beat the six medics during the initial interrogations.
The report concludes that the admission records of a total of 21 of the children "definitively prove that the HIV infection in the Al-Fatih Hospital was already active in 1997" and that "Ward B was already heavily contaminated in November 1997.
He told the conference that the world AIDS epidemic started when "CIA laboratories lost control over the virus which they were testing on black Haitian prisoners.
Montagnier testified that during his first visit, the health authorities in Libya and the management of the Benghazi hospital showed serious concern over the infection, and that at the time they had no idea of the cause of the epidemic's spread.
Contrary to the findings of Luc Montagnier and Vittorio Colizzi, this panel concluded that there was no evidence that an in-hospital infection led to the AIDS outbreak at the Benghazi hospital that affected 426 children.
On 6 May 2004 the Criminal Court in Benghazi sentenced to death by firing squad: Ashraf al-Hadzhudzh, Kristiyana Valtcheva, Nasya Nenova, Valentina Siropulo, Valya Chervenyashka and Snezhana Dimitrova, finding them guilty for the intentional infection of 426 Libyan children with AIDS.
US State Department spokesman, Justin Higgins, described the decision as a "positive development since it removes the risk of the death penalty being carried out.
The Judicial Council received authority to review the case after the Supreme Court upheld the death sentences one week prior to the commutation.
[62] He also confirmed that the release of the medics would allow him to perform an official visit to Libya to meet the Libyan president to negotiate other international issues.
[63] Also, Bulgaria cancelled a probably non-collectible $57 million debt owed by Libya,[64][65][66] and humanitarian funds were made available for both the infecteds' treatment and for a new children's hospital in Benghazi.
In exchange for the release of the nurses, he said Nicolas Sarkozy not only signed with Gaddafi security, health care and immigration pacts (assistance with border management and scholarships for Libyan students in the EU[68]) : according to Libyan sources cited by the Agence France-Presse, a $230 million (168 million euros) MILAN antitank missile sale was also part of the release deal.
The French left asked for Cécilia Sarkozy to be heard by the Commission, as she had played an "important role" in the release of the six according to Pierre Moscovici (PS).
[74] He also linked the release of the Bulgarian nurses and of the Palestinian physician to bilateral negotiations with the United Kingdom concerning the extradition of Abdelbaset al-Megrahi, convicted in the Lockerbie bombing case.
[75] Furthermore, Saif Gaddafi retracted his 1 August statements three days later, claiming that the arms deal and the agreement for the delivery of a nuclear reactor were not linked to the liberation of the Bulgarian nurses.
[citation needed] Additionally, President Sarkozy pledged to sell Libya three civil nuclear power stations as part of a package of trade and assistance that will boost the role of French companies in the oil-rich country.
Publication of the cartoons caused outrage in Tripoli, and the Libyan ambassador in Sofia delivered a protest note to the Bulgarian Foreign Ministry.
The foreign ministry also said (as reported by The Washington Post) "The political stance expressed by the Bulgarian government, the EU countries and others is a clear bias to[wards] certain values that are likely to trigger wars, conflicts and cause enmity between religions and civilizations."
According to the Angola Press the AU Commission said all of Africa was monitoring the case with great interest, and that attempts to politicize the matter must stop forthwith.
Ministry of Foreign Affairs – Alexander Yakovenko, Spokesman: "According to our information, the Bulgarian medics' lawyers intend to appeal this decision in the Supreme Court of Libya.
[50][51] Cold War era GRU defector Viktor Suvorov would claim on Radio Free Europe that the conspiracy theory espoused by Gaddafi about CIA creating HIV and letting it loose in Africa had been invented by the KGB and was still promoted by Russian secret services, who were controlling Libya.
Perrin dismissed the allegations of a deliberate infection, and WHO spokesperson Melinda Henry told the Post that members of WHO missions in Libya in 1998 and 1999 felt that further study was necessary, but they "were not invited back."
The case continued to receive minor attention until the conclusion of the second trial and the imposition of the death penalty on 6 May 2004, which provoked a major reaction, and worldwide television coverage.
On 24 February 2011, Mustafa Abdul Jalil, Libya's newly resigned Minister of Justice, told Al Jazeera that the responsibility for the HIV infection lies totally with Muammar Gaddafi's regime.
