Sarkozy's wife visits Bulgarian nurses in Libya

EPINAL, France, July 12 (Reuters) French President Nicolas Sarkozy's wife Cecilia has travelled to Libya to visit the Bulgarian nurses who have been sentenced to death for infecting children with HIV, he said today.

Libya's Supreme Court yesterday upheld death sentences against the five nurses and one Palestinian doctor convicted in December of deliberately infecting 426 children with HIV. But officials said they could win a reprieve next week.

Sarkozy said his wife had just met the nurses.

''She has left Tripoli to see the children who have contracted AIDS. She will have a new meeting with (Libyan leader Muammar) Gaddafi tonight,'' Sarkozy said during a trip to the eastern French city of Epinal.

Cecilia Sarkozy has kept a relatively low profile since her husband took office in May and has been seeking to stake out a role for herself. The Libya visit is her first major solo political outing as first lady.

France has been at the forefront of diplomatic efforts to get the nurses freed.

European Union and Bulgarian leaders have expressed regret at yesterday's court ruling but have said they remained confident a solution to secure their release would be found.

There have been lengthy efforts to secure a deal with the families of the children.

In jail since 1999, the nurses say they are innocent and were tortured to make them confess. Some Western scientists say negligence and poor hospital hygiene were the real culprits and that the six were made into scapegoats.

The case has blocked Gaddafi's efforts to strengthen links to the West after he moved in 2003 to end decades of international isolation by scrapping a prohibited weapons programme.

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