Libya's leader Muammar Gaddafi will be held accountable for his crimes against his own people and against the Bulgarian medics in the 1999-2007 HIV trial, according to Bulgarian Prime Minsiter Boyko Borisov.

“The dramatic events from the past hours in Libya demonstrate clearly and unconditionally the crumbling of the regime of Muammar Gaddafi who has lost the trust of the international community, and remains in the past,” Borisov said in a special statement late Monday afternoon, as the Libyan rebels are closing in their grip on Gaddafi's loyalist troops around Tripoli.

Bulgaria's Prime Minister emphasized in his statement that the sooner Gaddafi understood the futility of the fraternal war he waged, the fewer innocent victims and bloodshed there would be.

“The international community, NATO and the EU have done everything necessary in order to implement the Resolution of the UN Security Council. The outcome in Tripoli can come any minute now. It is largely the result of the bravery of the Libyan people who are winning this historic battle before our eyes,” Borisov stated.

He further elaborates on Bulgaria's experience with notorious Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi and especially the imprisonment of the 6 Bulgarian medics by Gaddafi's dictatorship not so long ago.

In 1999-2007, the Gaddafi regime arrested, imprisoned and tortured five Bulgarian nurses and one Bulgarian doctor, and twice sentenced to them death for allegedly infecting 400 Libyan children with AIDS, the so called Libyan HIV trial. The Bulgarian medics were brought back to Bulgaria and then pardoned by Bulgarian President Georgi Parvanov, after increased international pressure on Gaddafi, especially by French President Nicolas Sarkozy, among other factors.

“We Bulgarians know very well Gaddafi's full disregard of other people's life, including of the life of his own nation's children. That is why we are calling upon the Transitional National Council and the allied forces to boost their efforts in order not to allow the regime to drown Tripoli in blood,” the Bulgarian PM said with cocern.

He also appealed to Gaddafi's loyalists – urging them to surrender in order to avoid further bloodshed.

“Col. Gaddafi's regime was connected with Bulgaria in a painful way. We experienced many years anxiously awaiting [news] about the fate of our compatriots, and we are convinced that Muammar Gaddafi will be brought before the International [Criminal] Court in the Hague as a defendant for his crimes, including his crimes against the Bulgarian medics,” Borisov stated, referring to the notorious Libyan HIV trial.

“I declare that Bulgaria together with its allies will continue to provide support to the Libyan people so that the consequences of the conflict can be overcome faster,” he added.

On June 28, 2011, Bulgaria became the 19^th sovereign nation to have recognized formally the Libyan rebels’ National Transitional Council in Benghazi as the legitimate representative of the Libyan nation in international affairs.

The recognition of the rebels who have been fighting the regime of Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi since February 2011 came during a visit of Bulgarian Foreign Minister Nikolay Mladenov in Benghazi, the rebels’ capital.

Bulgaria's Borisov Cabinet thus reversed its position as of March 2011 when it refused to recognize the National Transitional Council stating that some of its members were involved in the torture and imprisonment of the 6 Bulgarian medics in the so called Libya HIV trial (1999-2007).

Back in March 2011, Bulgaria's Prime Minister Boyko Borisov said his Cabinet would not recognize the government of the Libyan rebels because some of its officials took part in the torture of the Bulgarian nurses and doctor jailed by the Gaddafi regime in 1999-2007, and twice sentenced to death for allegedly infecting 400 Libyan children with AIDS before they were brought back to Bulgaria, the so called Libyan HIV trial.

Borisov had responnded to France’s call for recognition of the Libyan rebels by the EU states but stating that people who tortured the Bulgarian medics and orchestrated the HIV trial, which cost Bulgaria USD 60 M, were among the members of the rebels’ transitional council.