The Bulgarian nurse who was found dead in the Libyan town of Benghazi last week had claimed few months ago that she was the victim of a persecution, Bulgarian Standard daily wrote, citing Bulgaria's consul in Libya Emil Manolov.

The 47-year-old woman, identified as Diana G.V., was found dead September 25 in her home near the rehabilitation center where she had been working at for three or four years. Policemen said that the nurse most probably committed suicide.

On Tuesday Manolov revealed that the woman suffered from a mental disability and had even spent time at a mental health center, where she was filed as a "schizophrenic". Lyubomir Todorov, spokesman of Bulgaria's Foreign Ministry, underlined that the suicide drama was not linked in any way to the HIV-infection trial against six other Bulgarian medics in Benghazi.

However, the newspaper reports of a 2001 incident in which another Bulgarian nurse, Ema K., was beaten up near Libyan capital Tripoli, and fell into a coma. She reportedly had an affair with the chief of the hospital in which she worked. Some time before the assault, when Ema was planning to return in Bulgaria, she told her family that the man threatened her.

Libyan sources claim that there could also be some sentimental motives behind last week's suicidal drama, Standard says.