Bulgarian medics – finally released!

Nurses Snezhana Dimitrova, Nasya Nenova, Valya Cherveniashka, Valentina Siropulo and Kristiana Valcheva and doctor Ashraf Juma Hajuj finally came back home! The five Bulgarian nurses and the Palestinian doctor, who was recently granted Bulgarian nationality, arrived in Sofia aboard a French presidential plane together with French first lady Cecilia Sarkozy and EU External Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner and Dr. Zdravko Georgiev. The plane touched down shortly before 10:00 am (0700 GMT) and the medics were greeted by Bulgarian President Georgy Parvanov before falling into the arms of their tearful relatives. There was a presidential decree pardoning the medics and the procedure took place shortly upon arrival on the airport. The EU welcomed Libya's "humanitarian gesture" and pledged to provide further care and support for the Libyan children infected with the AIDS virus. The six medical staff, who have been imprisoned since 1999, have been convicted of deliberately infecting 460 children with HIV at the Benghazi hospital and were twice sentenced to death. Last week the Libyan authorities commuted the sentence to life imprisonment, a move many Europeans and Bulgarians believed was a prelude to transferring the medics to Bulgaria.