Health workers back in Bulgaria as release stirs ransom questions
LONDON – Five Bulgarian medical workers arrived home to an emotional welcome Tuesday after more than eight years in Libyan prisons, closing a case that caused international furor over Libyan justice and raised questions about whether a ransom was paid for their release.
The five nurses and a doctor – a Palestinian who was granted Bulgarian citizenship last month – flew to freedom aboard a French government jet. On stepping down from the plane in Sofia, Bulgaria’s capital, they received a pardon from their president, bouquets and the embraces of teary-eyed family members.
“I know I am free, I know I am on Bulgarian soil, but I still cannot believe it,” declared nurse Christiana Valcheva, 48.
Arrested in 1999, she and the others were sentenced to death on charges of intentionally infecting more than 400 Libyan children with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. Libyan authorities accused them of conducting an AIDS experiment that went wrong.
The nurses and the doctor blamed the infections on poor hygiene in the hospital where they worked. Independent medical studies showed that the infections there predated their arrival by several years.
Their release followed complex behind-the-scenes negotiations that resulted in the payment of hundreds of millions of dollars, much of it from foreign sources, to the families of the infected children and promises of improved trade and aid ties between Libya and the European Union.
European and U.S. officials depicted the release as the latest step by Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi to normalize relations between his nation, once a pariah, and its former adversaries in the West.
“It’s the end of a nightmare for these women and this man. Everyone in Europe is convinced that they are innocent,” said French President Nicolas Sarkozy, whose wife, Cecilia, went to Libya on Sunday with Benita Ferrero-Waldner, the E.U. external relations commissioner, to press for the release.
At a news conference in Paris, Sarkozy announced that he would travel to Libya on Wednesday “to help Libya rejoin the international community.” The North African country wants greater trade with its wealthy European neighbors, as well as development aid.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, in a statement, applauded the prisoners’ release, calling it “an important step toward Libya’s continuing positive re-engagement with the international community.”
Last week, Libyan authorities commuted death sentences for the six to life in prison, following a deal to pay about $1 million to each of the families of the infected children. The money was reportedly paid through a special fund created in 2005 by the Libyan and Bulgarian governments, under the auspices of the European Union. Libyan officials said the money came from European countries and charitable organizations, as well as from Libya. The United States has also contributed to the children’s medical care.
This opened the way for Bulgaria to request the transfer of the medical workers, ostensibly to serve out their sentences there. Upon reaching Sofia, they were immediately pardoned and freed.