Bulgaria's Ex-FM: I Don't Feel Personal Responsibility on Nurses' Verdicts

Novinite Insider » INTERVIEW | January 12, 2007, Friday // 00:00
Bulgaria: Bulgaria's  Ex-FM: I Don't Feel Personal Responsibility on Nurses' Verdicts Photo by Yuliana Nikolova (Sofia Photo Agency)

Nadezhda Mihailova is Bulgaria's former foreign minister. She was on the position when the AIDS case, in which five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor were accused of deliberately infecting more than 400 Libyan children with HIV. The nurses were sentenced to death and the virdict was later confirmer by a higher instance court. She was approached by Darik Radio to comment the development on the case and the diplomatic actions taken while she was foreign minister of the country.

Svetoslav Ivanov from Darik News talked to Nadezhda Mihailova. *


Q: Do you feel personally responsible for the Bulgarian nurses' verdicts?


A: No. The nurses were arrested on February 10 and on February 11 the former Bulgarian ambassador in Libya informed the Foreign Ministry on the case. The question is could the ambassador have prevented the arrest, as he knew there had been an investigation on AIDS for three months already. If we knew about this investigation earlier, we could have warned all Bulgarian medics in Libya. Nevertheless I think Bulgarian medics could have been arrested even if they knew there is such danger, because this case is a scenario plotted in Libya. Muammar Quadaffi's statement is an example for that. After I got the signal for the arrest, I invited the Libya consul on a meeting to discuss the issue. When nothing happened, I sent a letter to Libya's foreign minister in which I insist to get some guarantee the nurses are in good health and this misunderstanding will be clarified soon as possible. Bulgaria acted adequately in this situation and 17 of the arrested 23 persons were released.

Q: You are accused of withdrawing the diplomatic mission in a moment when this shouldn't be done.

A: The withdrawal of a diplomatic mission is an evident sign for the country the envoy is in. The withdrawal of Bulgarian Ambassador was a political sign to Libya that Bulgaria protests against what is done.

Q: But the envoy withdrawal weakened Bulgaria's delegation and left the nurses all alone for a couple of months.

A: I will tell you once again this was a signal to Libya that Bulgaria sharply disagrees with the arrests.

Q: Has Bulgaria's quiet diplomacy failed in solving the case?

A: I don't think so. Diplomacy cannot solve this case. Negotiations on the case cannot be made public. Those are the rules of conducting negotiations. If Bulgaria makes them public to any other country and tells what contacts we search and what pressure we enforce, Libya would use the information to weaken our positions.

Q: Do you blame former Prime Minister Ivan Kostov for assuming at one point the nurses' guilt?

A: I blame nobody. But there is something I must mention. When removing of sanctions against Libya were discussed, the UK demanded compensations for Lockerby, France demanded compensations for the French airplane 1010, and Germany demanded compensations for the terrorist act in a dance club. Bulgaria, instead of demanding compensations for the medics, co-introduced a resolution for removing compensations against Libya.

* Translated by Lora Petrova, Sofia News Agency

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