Bulgaria rejects Libya’s “blood money” proposal in HIV case

Bulgaria has rejected a proposal that the country pay the families of HIV-positive children in Benghazi, Libya, a diya, or "blood money," to gain the release of five Bulgarian and one Palestinian health workers sentenced to death for allegedly deliberately infecting the children with the virus, Agence France-Presse reports. Libyan officials floated the proposal earlier this month in an attempt to resolve growing tensions between the countries over the death sentences given to the health care workers. AIDS experts testified at the trial of the workers that the HIV infections occurred at the Benghazi hospital due to unsanitary conditions and practices by hospital staff, and that they occurred before the foreign workers arrived there, but a Libyan court in 2004 found the workers guilty and sentenced them to death. An appeal is expected to be heard in Libyan courts in November.

Bulgarian foreign minister Ivailo Kalfin told his Libyan counterpart at the United Nations General Assembly meeting last week that his country would not pay "blood money" to the families of the HIV-positive children because the health workers had committed no crime and were not responsible for their infections.

The health workers have been held in Libya since 1999. Several have complained of being tortured while imprisoned. (Advocate.com)