Her Excellency Ambassador Elena Poptodorova [Ambassador of the Republic of Bulgaria to the United States]: "The tragedy of the Bulgarian medics in Libya began on 9 February 1999 when the Libyan authorities detained a group of 23 Bulgarian medics working at the "Al-Fatih" hospital in Benghazi. Six of them were held incommunicado for several months, while the others were released. The six Bulgarians (one doctor and five nurses) and a Palestinian doctor were falsely charged with committing actions leading to the uncontrolled murder of people with the aim to undermine the state security – the Libyan authorities represented these actions as a plot allegedly organized by the CIA and Mossad; spreading epidemics by injecting 393 children in Benghazi with HIV; committing murder by using substances leading finally to death, by injecting children with HIV.

During the investigation and the initial legal procedures the Libyan authorities committed numerous flagrant violations of the rights of the defendants. At least two of them were severely tortured. All of them were kept in prison under appalling conditions. The Libyan authorities intentionally ignored all demands of the defence aimed at clarifying all aspects of this complex case. In February 2002 the People's Court dropped the plot charge and the case on the other remaining charges was then transferred to an ordinary criminal court in Benghazi.

On 6 May 2004 the five Bulgarian nurses and the Palestinian doctor were sentenced to death. The Bulgarian doctor was sentenced to four years in prison and given that he had been imprisoned for more than five years, he was released. However, the Libyan authorities continue to deny him permission to leave Libya and he is still in the country.

In 2005 the Libyan Supreme Court overturned the death sentence and the case had to be retired. Bulgaria is extremely concerned with the December 19, 2006 decision of the Libyan court, which sentenced once again to death by firing squad the five Bulgarian nurses and the Palestinian doctor.

Bulgaria cannot accept a decision, which ignores the very clear facts, confirmed, among others, in the most recent research of world's leading experts rejecting any connection between the work of the Bulgarian medical staff and the HIV infection in the Benghazi hospital. This verdict has clearly set back the efforts to solve this painful case. The protraction of the case for eight years now is a strong argument for the international community to urge the Libyan authorities, including the judicial authorities not to delay any further the final conclusion of the trial and to allow for the return of the Bulgarian nurses and the Palestinian doctor to their home countries. After eight years of detention in the Libyan prisons they deserve justice and a fair and speedy trial.

Bulgaria is confident that world public opinion, governments of friendly countries, international organizations and the whole international community will persist with their active support to the just cause of the Bulgarian medics and the Palestinian doctor."