Ferrero-Waldner and Mme. Sarkozy visit Libya in HIV prisoner release bid

The EU’s External Relations chief and France’s first lady have travelled to Libya to press for the release of the six foreign medics convicted for deliberately infecting Libyan children with HIV. Benita Ferrero-Waldner and Cecilia Sarkozy arrived a week after Libya’s highest court commuted the defendants’ death sentences to life imprisonment.

The EU insists the five Bulgarian nurses and the Palestinian doctor are innocent. Under an existing prisoner exchange deal, they could be allowed home and pardoned by Bulgaria’s President.

The EU has offered long-term medical aid to the victims and to Libyan health authorities.

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