Libya can look forward to “a new era of relations” with the European Union on political and economic areas following the release of European medical staff who have spent the last eight years in Libyan jail.
The five Bulgarian nurses and Palestinian doctor were freed on Tuesday morning (24 July) and flown to the Bulgarian capital Sofia under a deal between Libya and the EU on medical aid, trade and improved political ties.
“We are entering a new era of the relations between Libya and the EU,” said EU foreign affairs and external relations commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner.
She explained that the release of the medics was a condition for normalisation of relations with the energy-rich north-African country, which has been strained for the past 20 years over issues such as terrorism.
The medics were sentenced to death on two occasions and later to life imprisonment for allegedly having infected over 400 children with the HIV virus at a Libyan hospital in Benghazi.
They have denied the charges saying they were tortured to confess and that the tragedy was caused by bad hygiene at the Benghazi hospital. So far, more than 50 of the children have died as a result of the virus.
The medics – including the Palestinian doctor who now has a Bulgarian citizenship – were pardoned on their arrival to Bulgaria by the country’s president.
