Page 46 - Human Rights

Faculty of Nursing
Adult care Nursing Department

The nurses and doctor had been held in custody since 1999. AIDS experts who testified at the

trial, however, blamed the outbreak on poor hygiene and the re-use of syringes in hospital.

Professor Luc Montagnier (the co-discoverer of HIV) presented a report to the court showing that

the infection had started before the foreign nationals commenced working at the hospital, and
spread after they ceased working there.

The health professionals had initially “confessed” to the crime, but later retracted these

statements, claiming they were extracted under torture.

Eight members of the security forces and two others (a doctor and a translator) employed by them

were tried for committing the alleged torture, and then acquitted on 7 June 2005.

The health professionals appealed against the verdict against them and their case was heard by

Libya’s Supreme Court on 25 December 2005.

The court overturned the death sentences and ordered a retrial before a lower court. The retrial
is scheduled for 13 June 2006.

There has been much speculation in the international media that the Libyan and Bulgarian

governments, with assistance from the European Union and the USA, have been negotiating a

political settlement of the health professionals’ case, outside the judicial process.

Libyan officials had said that the government would commute the death sentences if Bulgaria paid

compensation to the families of the children infected with HIV.

The Bulgarian government publicly rejected the offer on the basis that accepting it would be
tantamount to admitting the health professionals’ guilt.

On 22 December 2005, shortly before the Supreme Court hearing, Bulgaria, Libya, the USA, the

UK and the European Union agreed to establish a fund to support families in Benghazi affected by

HIV/AIDS and assist in hospital modernization.

43 Academic Year 2025/2026