After the liberation

The five Bulgarian nurses and the Palestinian doctor, now a naturalized Bulgarian, arrived in Sofia on 24 July after a complex international mission for their liberation. It all began eight years ago, on 16 February 1999, when the six were arrested in Libya and charged with having knowingly inoculated the AIDS virus in 426 children in the hospital in Benghazi. During the lengthy judicial process the Bulgarians were sentenced to death. A decisive role in the process was played by the foundation of Gheddafi’s son who conducted the negotiations with the families of the infected children. After a first visit of the wife of French President Sarkozy, Cecilia, the families of the victims accepted compensation of 1 million dollars per child. After the money was received by the families, the Libyan High Court commuted the death sentence into life imprisonment. But as soon as they arrived back in their homeland the five nurses and the doctor received a pardon from the Head of State Gheorghi Parvanov. THE INITIATIVES. Apart from the diplomatic efforts, various initiatives were taken for the liberation of the Bulgarians whom international experts considered innocent of the charges brought against them: scapegoats for the incompetence of the Libyan health service. One of these initiatives was the campaign “You aren’t alone”, organized by the major Bulgarian media. In February representatives of all the Christian confessions met to ask from God the gift of the liberation of the nurses. On 12 May thousands of people congregated in front of the Orthodox cathedral of Alexander Nevski in Sofia to pray, this time in front of the three miraculous icons of the Virgin Mary brought for the occasion from the country’s main Orthodox monasteries. At the end “God heard the prayers of the Bulgarian people”, said the President of the Bulgarian Episcopal Conference, Monsignor HRISTO PROYKOV, in a comment to SIR. “For Bulgarians it’s a day of Pasch because justice has been done – rejoiced Msgr. Proykov -. The arrival of our compatriots was a wonderful surprise; we weren’t expecting it”. In the bishop’s view, the important thing is that “all’s well that ends well”: evil has been vanquished and I think these six people, subjected to so terrible an ordeal, kept up their spirit and are in a decent condition given all the horrors they have gone through”. “It’s a wonderful thing – the bishop continues – that the EU has taken so much to heart the plight of the Bulgarian nurses, taking the side of justice. Thanks must also go to France and in particular to two women, Mrs. Sarkozy and Mrs. Ferrero-Waldner, who spared no effort in this mission, though without beating their drums about it. The rest – concluded Proykov – is for history to judge. Posterity will judge those who made these poor women suffer so much”. Doubts about the mission led by Cecilia Sarkozy were however expressed in a front-page note by the French daily La Croix on 24 July (see our press review below). LIGHT AT THE END OF THE TUNNEL. “The Bulgarian nurses and the Palestinian doctor, now a naturalized Bulgarian, can now see the light at the end of the tunnel”, said RENÈ VAN DER LINDEN , President of the parliamentary assembly of the Council of Europe (APCE), commenting on the transfer of the Bulgarian medical personnel to their country of origin. Praising the diplomatic efforts made by his European colleagues, Van der Lindon said he was “relieved by this transfer and by the fact that the plight of the nurses is over”. But he also expressed “concern for the situation in Libya that caused this humanitarian tragedy and the detention of the innocent nurses for eight years”. “The Libyan authorities – urged van der Linden – ought immediately to solve the problem of a deplorable health system”. Satisfaction for the happy end of the affair has also been expressed by TERRY DAVIS , general secretary of the Council of Europe (CoE): “I am happy to learn of the repatriation of the Bulgarian medical personnel. After eight years of physical and psychological sufferings, they can now rejoin their families and have the opportunity to resume a normal life. Our thoughts also go to the other victims of this tragic saga of incompetence and injustice, the children. I hope that after this settlement they will receive appropriate medical treatment”. A fundamental role in the release of the Bulgarian nurses was also played by European Commissioner Benita Ferrero Waldner, who said the mission was a humanitarian success for the EU and a chance to open new roads in relations between Europe and Libya. The accord for the transfer of the nurses to Bulgaria was signed between the EU and Libya and includes various points, including a commitment to pay 468 million dollars into the Benghazi fund, created to help the families of the infected children.