Bulgaria Lashes Out At Libyan Justice

Death sentences passed in Libya on five Bulgarian nurses triggered outrage Wednesday in the Bulgarian media and among civic groups, who described the rulings as "a political farce" and a "mockery of justice."

A court in Tripoli on Tuesday convicted the nurses and a Palestinian doctor of deliberately infecting 400 children with HIV and sentenced them to be executed — despite scientific evidence the youngsters had the virus before the medical workers arrived in Libya.

"The Libyan 'court' humbly carried out the orders of one of the longest-serving dictators in the world," wrote the independent Monitor daily, which also carried a first-page headline "Deadly Christmas present from (Libyan leader Moammar) Gadhafi."

Some columnists called for economic sanctions or even breaking off diplomatic relations with Libya.

"The solution is in a sharp, quick and open attack. On Jan. 3, as a fully-fledged EU member, Bulgaria should demand a European economic and diplomatic blockade on Libya," said one of the most popular dailies.

"Boycott on Libya," read the headline of Standart daily.

The confederation of independent trade unions, the biggest trade union in Bulgaria, urged Bulgarians working in Libya to leave the country. "Their labor and human rights will find no protection there," the union said in a statement.

Doctors and nurses from hospitals across the country protested against the sentences of their colleagues. Civic groups also organized demonstrations and appealed for the nurses' immediate release.

The six have been in jail since 1999 on charges that they intentionally spread the HIV virus to more than 400 children at a hospital in the city of Benghazi during a botched experiment to find a cure for AIDS. Fifty of the children died.

World leaders expressed their outrage Tuesday over the death sentences.

In Washington, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice joined Bulgarian Foreign Minister Ivailo Kalfin in denouncing the death sentences. "We are very disappointed with the outcome, she said.

"It's a terrible ruling, a terrible sentence," German Chancellor Angela Merkel said during a visit to Helsinki. "We think of those who have been convicted. They are in our hearts and minds."

Bulgaria and European officials have blamed the infections on unhygienic practices at the hospital, and accuse Libya of making the accused scapegoats to cover up poor conditions.

"The whole trial was a giant political farce ... It was a mockery of justice, falsified and manipulated," said Velislava Dareva, a journalist who heads a nongovernment association campaigning for the nurses' release.

"These death sentences are the cover for Libyan authorities to hide their guilt and their responsibility for the humanitarian disaster in Libya, where more than 100,000 people now live with AIDS."

Some commentators and editors called on Bulgaria's allies — the EU and the U.S. — to increase the pressure on Tripoli to free the medics.

"Libya needs a tool for influence, but not just over Bulgaria ... it targets mainly the European community and the U.S.," the independent Dnevnik daily wrote in an editorial. "If Gadhafi wants something from the West, it's up to the West to give him an adequate answer.