SOFIA - Five Bulgarian nurses sentenced to death for infecting Libyan children with HIV may be released by the end of June, a European Union diplomat said on Thursday. German ambassador to Bulgaria, Michael Geier, told Bulgarian daily Sega that talks between the European Commission and Tripoli were likely to ensure the release of the nurses, who have been detained in Libya since 1999.The five nurses and a Palestinian doctor were convicted in December of deliberately infecting 426 children in the 1990s in a highly politicised trial that hampered Libyan attempts to end decades of diplomatic isolation.
“From the latest information we have in Germany, as a result of activities between the European Commission and Libya we understand that already during the German presidency the Bulgarian medics can go back home,” Geier said. “Of course their return will be bound to certain conditions which at the moment are subject to talks.”
LibyaÂ’s Supreme Court is expected to rule on the medicsÂ’ appeal next month.