- Title: VARIOUS: Libya condemned for death sentences
- Date: 20th December 2006
- Summary: (W3) BRUSSELS, BELGIUM (DECEMBER 19, 2006) (REUTERS) EUROPEAN COMMISSION BUILDING EUROPEAN FLAGS MAIN ENTRANCE OF EUROPEAN COMMISSION (SOUNDBITE) (English) JOHANNES LAITENBERGER, CHIEF SPOKESMAN OF EUROPEAN COMMISSION SAYING: "President Barroso and the European Commission are shocked by this verdict. President Barroso and the European Commission condemn this verdict as you know has done the presidency of the EU Council. European Commission simply cannot accept this verdict. As the presidency of the Council and as the member states, the European Commission reiterates its serious concerns with regard to the basis on which the accused persons were prosecuted, their treatment while in custody and the lengthy delays in the process. The European Commission also recalls that the European union opposes the death penalty in all cases and under all circumstances. The Commission trusts that the matter will now be referred to a higher authority. The Commission expects that justice be served, and that decision to be taken by the higher authority will enable a just, equitable and humanitarian solution in this case."
- Embargoed: 4th January 2007 12:00
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- Topics: Crime / Law Enforcement
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- Story Text: A Libyan court has sentenced five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor to death on Tuesday (December 19) for deliberately infecting hundreds of children with the virus that causes AIDS, provoking a chorus of Western condemnation.
U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, meeting Bulgarian Foreign Minister Ivailo Kalfin on Tuesday (December 19), expressed disappointment at Libya's sentencing of foreign nationals to death in an AIDS case.
A Libyan court sentenced five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor to death on Tuesday for deliberately infecting hundreds of children with the virus that causes AIDS, provoking a chorus of Western condemnation.
"We understand very much there are children who have suffered and we are concerned for their suffering and that of their families," said Rice.
"But we also are concerned that these medics will be allowed to go home at the earliest possible date."
Bulgaria, the European Union, and Amnesty International criticised the verdict.
Johannes Laitenberger, chief spokesman for the European Commission said they were shocked, condemning it and saying they could not accept the decision.
"President Barroso and the European Commission are shocked by this verdict. President Barroso and the European Commission condemn this verdict as you know has done the presidency of the EU Council.
"European Commission simply cannot accept this verdict. As the presidency of the Council and as the member states, the European Commission reiterates its serious concerns with regard to the basis on which the accused persons were prosecuted, their treatment while in custody and the lengthy delays in the process.
"The European Commission also recalls that the European union opposes the death penalty in all cases and under all circumstances. The Commission trusts that the matter will now be referred to a higher authority. The Commission expects that justice be served, and that decision to be taken by the higher authority will enable a just, equitable and humanitarian solution in this case," he said.
Laitenberger said that the Commission was consulting with the Presidency and with member states to determine the right course of action.
French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy was also dismayed.
"I'm profoundly shocked by the verdict. France deplores this verdict and I hope there will very soon be an appeal on behalf of these nurses and the doctor with the Libyan right. I will never stop working, and more than ever these five Bulgarian nurses and the Palestinian doctor are in my thoughts, I was the only one to go and see them in prison," said Douste-Blazy.
Bulgaria's EU Commissioner Designate, Meglena Kuneva could only condemn the sentence. She said, "One single word, this is, condemnation, of this absolutely unfair, unbiased, totally wrong and disgraceful decision."
Kuneva said she did not understand how the court reached its decision.
"I can not imagine what could bring the Court to this decision on top of all the evidence from everywhere, from scientists, from witnesses to this process, I can not really explain," she said.
The ruling in a deeply politicised case could set back oil producer Libya's hopes of better ties with the West, which meant a deal that saves the six from execution was still likely, analysts said.
The six deny infecting 426 children, more than 50 of whom have since died, with HIV at the hospital in the late 1990s.
Their lawyer said they planned to appeal against their latest conviction, which some analysts say Libya may use to strengthen its hand as it seeks foreign financial compensation in order to placate the families.
They were first found guilty in a 2004 trial and sentenced to death by firing squad.
But the supreme court quashed the ruling last year, citing unspecified failings in the case, and ordered a retrial.
Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi has reason to free the six eventually, analysts say, because the case has slowed Tripoli's rapprochement with the West after decades of isolation.
This moved up a gear when Libya abandoned its pursuit of nuclear, chemical and biological weapons in 2003.
Bulgaria, the European Union which it joins next month and Amnesty International were among swift critics of the verdict. Washington had also earlier said the medics were innocent.
The International Council of Nurses and World Medical Association said the ruling turned a blind eye to evidence -- including from Luc Montagnier, a French doctor who first detected the HIV virus -- that the children were infected well before the medics arrived in Benghazi in 1998.
"How many children will go on dying in Libyan hospitals while the government ignores the root of the problem?" they said in a joint statement.
Some Western scientists say negligence and poor hospital hygiene are the real culprits and the six are scapegoats.
Analysts say the case is embroiled in power politics and a solution could take many more months, with Libya keeping the six as bargaining chips until talks yield a payout.
Tripoli has demanded 10 million euros (13.11 million U.S. dollars) for each infected child's family. Bulgaria and its allies reject this, saying it would admit guilt, but have offered a fund for treatment at European hospitals for the children.
Judge Mahmoud Haouissa did not say how the six should be executed but Libya's preferred method is firing squad.
Families say the infections are part of a Western attempt to undermine Muslims in general and Libya in particular. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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