Bulgaria Rejects Libya-Jailed Nurses MEP Nominations

Politics » BULGARIA IN EU | April 14, 2007, Saturday // 00:00
Bulgaria: Bulgaria Rejects Libya-Jailed Nurses MEP Nominations The leader of a newly established Varna's initiative committee Rosen Markov launched the second MEP nomination of Libya-held Bulgarian doctor Zdravko Georgiev. Photo by Nadya Kotseva (Sofia Photo Agency)

Bulgaria's central electoral body refused to register the nominations of the five nurses and one doctor, held in Libya in a travesty HIV trial, for running in the upcoming MEP elections.

The decision will be appealed.

The center-right political formation "Order, Rule of Law and Justice", which included the six medics on its ticket, did not get the green light as the candidates fail to meet the requirement to have lived in the county or in a EU member state in the three months prior to the election.

Doctor Zdravko Georgiev, who was the only one acquitted in a HIV trial in Libya yet never allowed to return to his homeland, failed to register even though featuring on two MEPs tickets.

The initiative committee, formed in Bulgaria's seaside of Varna in support of the MEP nomination of Zdravko Georgiev, also failed to register him because of a missing document that had to be signed by the candidate.

The committee's leader Rosen Markov said he has deposited the bank guarantee required for the registration of the newly established formation, as well as 12,000 signatures.

"I failed to submit two documents, which will lie heavy on the conscience of two people. I would say nothing more. To help is all I wanted to do," Markov said.

The idea for making the medics MEPs, born more than a month ago, gained further momentum after the nurses and doctor Zdravko Georgiev warmly embraced it.

Besides the legislative problem, opponents say the move poses a huge risk as it is not realistic to expect all six medics getting elected, which may give a powerful advantage to Qaddafi.

The jailed medics, however, have been persistent to have a shot at MEP seats even if this comes to be nothing more than a symbolic gesture to send a strong signal to Libya and the whole world.

At the beginning of April the medics made a desperate appeal to the heads of the six biggest parties in Bulgaria to make them leaders of their MEP tickets.

"We will certainly do feel like we have been lied to unless we are listed as candidates for MEPs," doctor Georgiev said in a statement.

"I am sick of listening about those "tools" that may bring this tragedy to an end. I have seen none of these tools."

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