Bulgaria condemns death sentences in Libya HIV case

SOFIA, Dec 19 (Reuters) Bulgaria denounced death sentences imposed by a Libyan court today on five of its nationals and a Palestinian doctor, who were found guilty of deliberately infecting hundreds of children with the HIV virus. Foreign Minister Ivailo Kalfin called the decision ''deeply disappointing''. The Black Sea country's parliament urged the international community to put pressure on Libya to free the nurses.

''We appeal to the international community to categorically denounce the court's decision and join the appeal for the Libyan side to immediately release the condemned,'' parliament speaker Georgi Pirinski told the chamber.

It is the second time the nurses have been condemned to death on the same charges. They were first sentenced to face a firing squad in 2003, but that verdict was overturned last year.

The United States and the European Union, which Bulgaria joins on January 1, say Libya must let them go, pointing to evidence they were tortured to confess and that an epidemic at the Benghazi hospital where they worked began before they arrived in 1998.

The families of the infected have demanded 10 million euros (.10 million) in compensation for each child -- ''blood money'' under which the relatives would be able to quash the verdicts.

Bulgaria and its allies have refused to pay, saying that doing so would be an admission of guilt.

But, together with their allies in Brussels and Washington, they are trying to arrange medical aid, living expenses and treatment in Western hospitals for the families, which analysts say could appease the Libyans and prompt the medics' release.

The families of the nurses, who have been jailed since 1999, were distraught.

''This is such a disgrace. I simply cannot believe that such injustice can be done,'' said Polina Dimitrova, daughter of nurse Snezhana Dimitrova. ''I can only imagine how they (the condemned) feel -- this must have crushed them.'' REUTERS PDM VV1638