Bulgarian pardon
of medics outrages families of HIV-infected children

The families of the children infected with the AIDS virus in a Libyan hospital voiced outrage Wednesday at the pardon and release of six medics who were flown home to Bulgaria a day earlier.

''We deeply condemn and are deeply disappointed at the absurdity and disrespect shown by the Bulgarian presidential pardon,'' the Libyan Association for the Families of HIV-Infected Children said in a statement faxed to the Associated Press.

The five nurses and one doctor were flown to Bulgaria on Tuesday and immediately pardoned by Bulgarian president Georgi Parvanov.

Their release was secured during a three-day trip to Libya by French first lady Cecilia Sarkozy and the European Union's commissioner for foreign affairs, Benita Ferrero-Waldner.

French president Nicolas Sarkozy was heading to Libya on Wednesday to renew France's relations with Libya.

The medics had twice been sentenced to death in Libya for allegedly infecting some 426 children in the coastal city of Benghazi in the late 1990s--charges that were widely denounced abroad as false. Before their release, Libya had commuted their sentences to life in prison.

The Libyan families' statement called on the Interpol police force to arrest the medics again in Bulgaria, ''so that they can spend the rest of their sentences in prison.''

The medics have long asserted their innocence and said their confessions in Libyan jails were extracted under torture.

Libya's decision to allow the six to return to Bulgaria--nominally to serve out the rest of their life sentences--came after months of pressure from the United States and the European Union, who made clear to Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi that resolving the issue was key to normalizing relations with the international community, a key Libyan goal.

The families ''demanded cutting relations with Bulgaria and kicking all Bulgarian workers out of Libya,'' added the statement.

They said the Bulgarian pardon illustrated Western contempt for Arabs.

''Western disregard of Muslims' blood is an indisputable fact,'' the statement said.

Until now, Bulgaria has vehemently rejected the idea of paying compensation to the families or writing off some of Libya's debt, saying such a move would be seen as an admission of the guilt of the medics.

But Bulgarian prime minister Sergei Stanishev said Wednesday that Bulgaria may write off Libya's $54 million foreign debt as part of humanitarian aid measures.

European countries have promised millions of dollars to a fund for HIV-infected children in Libya. Last week the victims' families each received $1 million, according to a victims' advocate, after which they agreed to drop their demand for the execution of the six medics. (Khaled Al-Deeb, AP)