Seventeen years ago today, Libya's Supreme Court of Cassation confirmed conclusively the death sentences imposed on five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor on December 19, 2006 by the Criminal Court on charges of deliberate HIV infection of hundreds of Libyan children in Benghazi.

Held in Libyan custody since 1999, the defendants said throughout they have been tortured into making false confessions, on which the prosecution case rests. Nurses Kristiyana Vulcheva, Nassya Nenova, Valentina Siropoulo, Valya Chervenyashka, Snezhana Dimitrova and doctor Ashraf al-Hadjudj, who was was granted Bulgarian citizenship earlier in 2007, were not present as the Supreme Court announced its decision.  

The court hearing lasted for some two minutes and was limited to reading the judgment, reported BTA Special Correspondent Nikolai Zhelyazkov from Tripoli. 

In addition to the death sentences, the defendants also received effective prison sentences on the "less serious" charges pressed against them. All nurses were sentenced to three years imprisonment for acts conflicting with the norms of morality in Libya and to a fine of 10,000 dinars for currency offences. Kristiyana Vulcheva received an extra four years in prison for distillation and use of alcohol.

"Today's judgment of the court brings to an end the seven-years-long court phase of the case on the AIDS epidemic in Benghazi but still leaves the door open to a favourable solution," the defence commented.

Immediately after the pronouncement, the Bulgarians' lawyer Osman Bizanti told the media that he remains optimistic about the final outcome of the case. This opinion was shared by the defendants' Bulgarian lawyer, Plamen Yalnuzov, who added that the court's judgment will become clearer after the reasoning is released within the one-month time limit provided by the law.

The Chairman of the Association for the Families of the HIV-infected Children of Benghazi, Idriss Lagha, said that an agreement would be signed shortly, enabling Libya's High Judicial Council to commute the sentence. He specified that the agreement will be announced through an official declaration. Lagha added that he found the sentence just.

The High Judicial Council is a political body chaired by Libya's Minister of Justice. The Council is competent to uphold, modify or revoke the sentences.

On July 17, 2007, the High Judicial Council announced that the sentences would be commuted to life imprisonment. Seven days later, French President Nicolas Sarkozy officially announced that French and European representatives had obtained Libya's consent to extradite the five nurses and the doctor. They left Libya on a French government plane, with the EU's External Affairs Commissioner, Benita Ferrero-Waldner, and the then wife of the French President, Cécilia Sarkozy, who traveled twice to Libya. /BTA