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HIV medics 'on way to Bulgaria' HIV medics released to Bulgaria
(10 minutes later)
Five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor serving life sentences in Libya are on a plane bound for Bulgaria, French officials have said. Six medics who were serving life sentences in Libya are on a plane to Bulgaria, French and Bulgarian officials say.
The six medics were convicted in 2004 of infecting hundreds of Libyan children with HIV. The five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor were convicted of infecting Libyan children with HIV.
An EU delegation has been in the Libyan capital, Tripoli, trying to broker a deal to free the nurses and doctor. An EU delegation has been in the Libyan capital, Tripoli, to broker a deal to free the nurses and doctor.
The six, who have always denied the charges, had death sentences commuted to life in prison last week.The six, who have always denied the charges, had death sentences commuted to life in prison last week.
Bulgaria had officially asked Libya to repatriate the medics so they could serve out their sentences in Bulgaria.
The Palestinian doctor was granted Bulgarian citizenship last month. The six had been imprisoned in Libya since 1999, after being accused and then convicted of deliberately spreading HIV in a children's hospital.
They say torture was used to extract their confessions.
Foreign experts say the infections started before the medics arrived at the hospital, and are more likely to have been a result of poor hygiene.