SOFIA, Bulgaria Six medics who had been sentenced to life in prison in Libya for allegedly infecting children with HIV arrived in Sofia on Tuesday, and immediately received a presidential pardon allowing them to walk free after eight years behind bars.
The five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor were flown from Tripoli to Sofia on board a plane with French first lady Cecilia Sarkozy and the EU’s commissioner for foreign affairs, Benita Ferrero-Waldner. Last week, Tripoli had agreed to a Bulgarian request to allow the six to serve the rest of their sentence at home.
“Led by the firm conviction in the innocence of the Bulgarian citizens sentenced in Libya and fulfilling his constitutional rights, the president signed a decree for pardon and releases them of their sentences,” Foreign Minister Ivailo Kalfin said. The six came down the steps from the airplane and were welcomed on the tarmac by family members who hugged them, one lifting the Palestinian doctor off the ground. “I waited so long for this moment,” nurse Snezhana Dimitrova said before falling in the arms of her loved ones.
From the airport, the medics were whisked to a government residence in the capital, where they will spend the next few days with their relatives and away from the intense media coverage of their release.
Libya had accused the six of deliberately infecting more than 400 Libyan children with HIV. Fifty of the children died. The medics, jailed since 1999, deny infecting the children and say their confessions were extracted under torture. The six originally had been sentenced to death, but that was later commuted to life in prison. Kristiana Valcheva, one of the released nurses, told reporters at the airport that throughout their time in prison, they had kept alive the hope of freedom.
“We were afraid even to say aloud what we dreamed about,” Valcheva said with tears in her eyes. “Now I still can’t believe that I am standing on Bulgarian soil. We were told the news at 4 o’clock in the morning and we left the jail at quarter to six to board the plane,” she said. “Now I will try to get my previous life back.”
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