Libya rebuffs EU demand to free medics in HIV case

TRIPOLI, Jan 20 (Reuters) Calls by the EU Parliament for Libya to free medics sentenced to death for infecting hundreds of children with HIV will only worsen the prisoners' situation, a charity run by Muammar Gaddafi's son said.

The parliament had urged EU states on Thursday to review ties with oil-rich Libya and step up pressure to secure the early release of the five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor.

''What the European Union announced recently, that it will put pressure on Libya to free the Bulgarians, will have a negative influence on the situation'' of the medics, said a statement from the Gaddafi Foundation headed by Saif al-Islam yesterday, Libyan leader Gaddafi's son and his most influential envoy.

''All measures taken by the European Union against Libya will have negative consequences on the development in relations that Libya and the EU have seen recently.'' Diplomats in Brussels said EU foreign ministers would tread a delicate path at a meeting in Brussels on Monday to avoid aggravating the situation.

According to a draft statement, they will express ''grave concerns'' about the plight of the medics and call for a ''positive, fair and prompt solution'' to the case.

At the same time, they are expected to hold out the prospect of benefits to Libya rather than tough steps.

''The statement is also expected to include the idea that EU-Libya relations could further develop if there is a resolution of this case,'' a diplomat said, adding that the limited scale of current ties meant there was little to be gained by threatening to review relations.

''It is a difficult balancing act,'' another EU diplomat said.

''We want to make clear to Libya that the way they have conducted the trial is just not acceptable. On the other hand, from a Libyan perspective, this is a national judicial process and they don't like being told to do it in a different way.

''If a deal is to be done with Gaddafi at some point we need to calibrate the public handling of this.'' The six were found guilty of deliberately starting an HIV outbreak at a hospital in Benghazi in eastern Libya. Over 430 children were infected and at least 50 have died.

The death sentences met with swift condemnation from Western government and rights groups, with Bulgaria, which joined the EU this month, among the harshest critics.

Some Western scientists blame negligence and poor hospital hygiene for the HIV outbreak and say the medics are scapegoats.

In Libya the case has aroused popular anger and the verdict has been viewed as a welcome act of defiance of the West.

In its statement, the Gaddafi foundation said it was ''surprised'' that the EU, while championing the principle of an independent judiciary, was calling on Libya's government to intervene in a legal case.

The renewed EU pressure ''will move the case out of its judicial aspect into a political aspect'', it said.

The foundation said the sentences were not the last word in the case, with a decision by Libya's supreme court still to come, and then another by the high judicial council.

REUTERS MQA BST0450