This is the first segment of a three-part series reflecting upon different facets of the Bulgarian medic crisis back in 2007. It is appropriate to recall the event as we approach the first anniversary of the conclusion of this chapter. This first segment shall focus upon the chronological progression of events.

Back in 1999 five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor were taken into Libyan custody and detained as part of an investigation over the infection of over four hundred children with the HIV virus in a hospital within the Benghazi province. Charges were levelled against them, their guilt was declared and they were sentenced to death, so the medics spent the next eight years of their lives in imprisonment as they exhausted their options in appeal. All this was in vain and on the 11th of July 2007 their final appeal was rejected.

On the 16th of July 2007 an agreement was reached between the European Union and the Libyan government, paving the way for victims’ families to waive their legal right to seek the death penalty in exchange for a financial compensation package from the European Union adding up to four hundred million dollars to be divided amongst the families. As a result the death sentences upon the six medics were commuted to sentences of life imprisonment.

Throughout this saga protests worldwide had for the most part fallen upon deaf ears; Libya and the European Union had remained locked in stalemate. It was ultimately only through the timely intervention of France’s then freshly-elected prime minister Nicholas Sarkozy and his then first lady, Cecilia Sarkozy, that a positive progression of events began to unfold. Through a series of diplomatic visits and negotiations the then couple were able to come to further agreements with the Libyan leader Gaddafi, including treatment for the surviving infected children within France, sponsored improvement of the Benghazi hospital, grants for Libyan students studying within the European Union and even, for a time, flirting with the idea of permitting Libya to invest within nuclear energy.

In late July of 2007, eight years after the medics’ saga began, it ended and Libya finally arranged for their release and immediate air transfer to Bulgaria, whereupon who’s arrival they were promptly pardoned by Bulgarian president Georgi Parvanov. And this is where the chapter closed almost one year ago.

This entry was posted on Monday, July 7th, 2008 at 11:59 pm and is filed under On Foreign Affairs. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.