Bulgaria to ask Libya to transfer HIV medics

SOFIA, July 17 (Reuters) Bulgaria said it would ask Libya to transfer six foreign medics to Sofia after the North African country commuted their death sentences for infecting children with HIV, Bulgaria's foreign minister said today.

''This decision is a big step ... For us the case will end once they come back to Bulgaria,'' Foreign Minister Ivailo Kalfin told reporters.

He said the decision of Libya's High Judicial Council to commute the death sentences to life imprisonment allowed Sofia to use an agreement with Tripoli on exchange of prisoners and request the transfer of the five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor.

''Tomorrow morning we will start working on implementing the transfer of the medics,'' Kalfin said.

Reuters JK VP0145