Libya protests over pardons for HIV medics -source

SOFIA, July 26 (Reuters) Libya has sent a formal protest note to Bulgaria over the pardoning of six medics convicted of deliberately infecting hundreds of Libyan children with HIV, a diplomatic source said today.

The Libyan protest comes after the families of the HIV victims condemned Bulgaria's ''recklessness'' yesterday and called on Tripoli to cut ties with Sofia, deport all Bulgarian nationals and demanded the medics be re-arrested by Interpol.

''The note says that Bulgaria has broken a 1984 prisoner exchange agreement,'' the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told Reuters.

Bulgaria's Foreign Ministry declined to comment.

After more than eight years in jail, five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor who recently took Bulgarian citizenship were freed on Tuesday under a cooperation accord between Tripoli and the European Union.

Bulgarian President Georgi Parvanov pardoned the six upon their arrival in Sofia.

The source said Libya referred to an article in the prisoner exchange agreement under which the medics were supposed to serve their remaining sentences after their transfer.

Bulgaria's Chief Prosecutor Boris Velchev said he had not seen Libya's official protest but said Sofia had not breached the agreement.

''There is also an article that says once prisoners are transferred, they are treated under the host country's legislation.

The pardon has been legally done. There are no legal problems,'' Velchev told Reuters.

Officials have said Bulgaria was in a hurry to pardon the medics at the airport as it wanted to avoid having them in a Bulgarian prison even for a day.

Relatives of the children have said the infections were part of a Western attempt to undermine Muslims and Libya. Some 56 of the children have died and emotions are still strong in the city of Benghazi where the outbreak occurred.

The medics said they were tortured to confess and were innocent.

Bulgaria and its Western allies have also insisted the nurses are innocent and pushed for their release.

REUTERS PD KP1728