HIV trial in Libya

The HIV trial in Libya (Arabic: قضية الأيدز في ليبيا) concerns the trial, conviction, and the death sentences imposed by a Libyan court against the Benghazi Six: five Bulgarian nurses (Kristiyana Valtcheva, Nasya Nenova, Valentina Siropulo, Valya Chervenyashka, and Snezhana Dimitrova) and one Palestinian physician (Ashraf al-Hajuj, alias al-Hadjudj). Based on confessions of al-Hajuj, Valtcheva and Siropulo (allegedly extracted by torture), the court convicted the six of causing an HIV epidemic among hundreds of children in a Benghazi hospital and sentenced them all to death by firing squad. However, as a result of an appeal by the Benghazi Six, their death sentences were overturned on December 25, 2005, by Libya's Supreme Court and a re-trial ordered.

The new trial began in Tripoli on May 11, 2006, and proceeded very slowly. At the June 20 hearing, the court's president denied permission for foreign experts to testify. On 28 August, when the prosecution was scheduled to close its case, the Libyan prosecutor called for the five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor to be sentenced to death. Attorneys from Lawyers Without Borders, who handled the defence of the six, responded by calling for the international community to request that the court order an independent scientific assessment, by international AIDS experts, of how the children became infected. Such an assessment was done, an evaluation of genetic material, and it was found that many of the children were infected years before the Benghazi Six arrived in Libya (see below) — this was reported after the trial had ended but before verdict was announced.

On December 19, 2006, the court announced sentences of death for all of the Benghazi Six. However, this latest trial "will not be the final step in the Libyan legal process ... it could be appealed again to the supreme court and could then go to the Libyan higher judicial council, which might grant clemency."

Case history

The six accused were charged with

• committing actions on the territory of Libya which led to uncontrolled killing of people in an attempt on the state's security (punishable with death);
• participating in a conspiracy and team negotiation for commission of a murder;
• causing an epidemic by injecting 393 children with HIV in the children’s hospital Al-Fatih in Benghazi (punishable with death); and
• acting contrary to Libyan standards and traditions (including usage of alcohol).

The five Bulgarian nurses and Palestinian Ashraf al-Hadjudj arrived in Libya in 1998 to treat pediatric patients. Initially, 23 foreign medical personnel were arrested, mostly Bulgarian, but 17 were released and have returned to Bulgaria. Additionally, 11 Libyan nationals were arrested and charged with the alleged crimes. A Bulgarian doctor, Zdravko Georgiev, was also convicted, although of lesser crimes (illegal transactions with foreign exchange). Dr. Georgiev went to Libya to see his wife (Valtcheva); subsequently he was detained and tried, too. Georgiev was sentenced to four years in prison and served more than that before his release, but he remains in Libya awaiting an exit visa.

Case 44/1999 of People's Court of Libya

(February 7, 2000 - February 17, 2002)

Libya began the case without notifying Bulgaria. The trial was suspended because the Court did not see any evidence for the accusation of conspiracy against the country. The judge made a statement saying that the People's Court of Libya was incompetent with regard to the case. The People's Court of Libya is the lowest court in the three-tier Libyan court system.

• The confessions of some of the medics and the contention of Gaddafi that the accused worked as CIA and Mossad agents were considered to be the basis for the case.
• The Bulgarian medics declared during the case that the confessions were obtained through torture. Gaddafi's thesis was rejected as absurd by both the international press and the experts.

• A few months after the beginning of the case, lawyers Vladimir Sheitanov and Osman Bizanti appealed to the court demanding that the detention measure be altered because of the Bulgarians' physical and mental state. Sheitanov said that the almost two-year preliminary detention was incompatible with the principle of "innocent until proven guilty".

Case 213/2002 of the Criminal Court in Benghazi

(July 8 2003 - 2004)

• Libya withdrew its accusation of participation in a CIA/Mossad conspiracy and made new accusations of illegal drug experiments and of contamination with HIV mutations.

• In a court session, two experts, Luc Montagnier (co-discoverer of HIV) and Vittorio Colizzi, said that the epidemic at Al-Fatih hospital resulted from poor hygiene and that the infection began spreading in 1997, a year before the accused started working there.

Case 607/2003 of the Criminal Court in Benghazi

(200? – May 6, 2004)

The Criminal Court sentenced Kristiyana Valtcheva, Nasya Nenova, Valentina Siropulo, Valya Chervenyashka, Snezhana Dimitrova and Ashraf al-Hajuj to death by firing squad for deliberately infecting more than 400 Libyan children with HIV. Kristiyana Valtcheva and Zdravko Georgiev were sentenced to 4 years' imprisonment and a fine on the charge of making illegal transactions with foreign exchange. Under the civil suit, the court obliged Ashraf al-Hajuj, Kristiyana Valtcheva and Nasya Nenova to pay compensations to the infected children's parents. Motivated complaints against the court's decision were lodged on July 5, 2004.

• In January 2004, the European Union recommended that Libya withdraw its charges. The letter was delivered by the ambassadors of the United Kingdom and the Netherlands.
• Amnesty International, the United States Department of State, and other state and international organizations expressed their concern with the course of the trial.
• The Government of Bulgaria, which lobbied for the release of the defendants, defined the verdict as unjust and absurd.

Case of the Supreme Court in Tripoli

The Libyan Supreme Court heard the appeal of the cases beginning on March 29, 2005. On March 30, prosecutors urged the court to revoke the death sentences and remand the case to the lower courts for retrial. Under Libyan law, the court cannot accept any new evidence, although the Bulgarian party argued that there had been wrongly interpreted evidence during the court sessions so far. The judgment was to have been handed down on May 31, 2005, but was postponed (with no reason given) until November 15, 2005—during the six month delay, the medics were to be allowed an extra room and daily walks. On that date, the judgment was again deferred (ostensibly to give the defense more time to prepare) until January 31, 2006. Then in late December the hearing was unexpectedly moved up to December 25 (Christmas Day) when the Supreme Court revoked the death sentences and ordered a new trial. In April 2006, the Bulgarian foreign ministry announced that the new trial in Tripoli would begin on May 11, 2006.[1]

Torture Charges and Counter-trial of Police

The confessions that the prosecution obtained from three of the defendants, Kristiyana Valtcheva, Valentina Siropulo and the doctor Ashraf al-Hajuj, have been alleged to have been "obtained only after an interrogation process in which they were stripped, beaten, attacked by dogs, electrocuted [sic] and, in at least one case, sexually assaulted with a police baton."[2] Two of the nurses say that they were raped while imprisoned. Al-Hajuj sustained damage to his hands that would prevent him ever working as a doctor again after his release.

Valtcheva later declared of her extracted confession, "My confession was all in Arabic without translation. We were ready to sign anything just to stop the torture."[3]

In an apparent bid to relax criticism of Libya, authorities arrested nine police officers and a doctor and charged them with torture of the accused Bulgarian nurses and Palestinian doctor in order to extract confessions. Lawyers for the accused medical personnel have asked for 5 million Libyan dinars (approx. 3.7M USD/3.1M EUR) as compensation. Much of the evidence is based on medical reports prepared by authorities from Bulgaria relating to marks and scars on the defendants. All of the accused Libyans deny the charges, and none of them were jailed. After several procedural delays, their trial began in late May 2005. Despite one police officer admitting that electric shocks and dogs were utilized in the interrogations of the defendants, on June 7, 2005, the ten defendants were acquitted.[4]

Civil lawsuit

The civil lawsuit was initiated by the relatives of a young HIV victim – the family says that their child was infected by the Bulgarians, and demands to receive a compensation of almost 12 million US dollars.

The civil lawsuit against the six medics was postponed until December 27, 2005, which had been expected to be after the conclusion of their last appeal trial [5].

As of October 1, 2005, Libya has repeatedly stated that Bulgaria must negotiate with the victims' families, and Bulgaria and Western nations have repeatedly refused because to do so would admit guilt. Proposed deals to offer humanitarian assistance not admitting guilt have been rebuffed.

A hearing was postponed on October 2, and another was scheduled for December 27 - however, on December 17, the new hearing was further postponed until February 25 2006 [6] [7].

Appeal to the Supreme Court

The Libyan Supreme Court, having heard the appeal by the medics against their conviction, was originally due to deliver its judgment on May 31, 2005, but first postponed it to November 15 and then again until January 31, 2006. [8] However, in late December, it was announced that the judgment would be delivered on December 25 (Christmas Day) [9]. (The nurses were first sentenced to death on May 6, 2004, when Bulgaria was celebrating major Christian festivities of St George's Day [10].) The Supreme Court duly quashed the death sentence imposed on the Benghazi Six and ordered a re-trial.[11]

Second Sentencing

On December 19, 2006, the six medics were sentenced to death. [12] EU Justice Commissioner Franco Frattini quickly expressed his shock at the verdict and called for the decision to be reviewed, as was done by the Bulgarian government and international organizations, including Amnesty International, the World Medical Association and the International Council of Nurses. [13]

Overseas reactions

The international community and medical authorities disputed the convictions and argued that the HIV infections were caused by pre-existing poor hygiene at the children's hospital, that the infections began with a single child admitted prior to the Bulgarians' arrival in Libya, and that the Benghazi Six were scapegoats being cynically used by Libya as a bargaining chip.[14] United States Senator Richard Lugar, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, vowed to work for the release of the accused [15]. On September 19, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov vowed to work for the release of the medics on his trip to Libya in November [16]. U.S. President George W. Bush has said "I want them free." One of Gaddafi's sons has admitted at least some Libyan responsibility. On December 24, 2005, it was announced that Libya, Bulgaria, the EU, and the US had agreed on a fund which may help to resolve the matter.[17] [18]

In response to the risk of a new death penalty verdict in the current trial, international opinion has again began to mobilize. In October 2006, several scientific organizations responded with appeals, and the New York Times and Nature published strong editorials calling for a fair trial.

Medical study exonerating the six

On December 7, 2006, the influential science journal Nature published a new study which examined the mutation history of the HIV found in blood samples from the children, and found that they had likely been first infected years before the Benghazi Six arrived in Libya. The news broke on December 6, and was quickly published across the globe. As of December 10, the Libyan government had not yet responded, but the head of the Association of the HIV infected children in the country claimed that the study had no scientific value.

Quid pro quo

Although he concurred with the guilty verdict, Gaddafi had proposed releasing the six medics if, in return, the Pan Am Flight 103 bomber Megrahi, serving a life sentence in a Scottish jail, were to be released and $5.7 billion compensation were paid to Libya for the care of the HIV-infected patients. Bulgaria refused, on the grounds that it would be admitting the guilt of the medics. Around June 7, 2005, the European Union engaged in negotiations to provide assistance to Libya, but not directly linked to the case of the six medics [19]. On August 18, 2005, Libya recommended that Bulgaria should negotiate on the amount of the payment [20]. The next week, the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly (PACE) delegate visited Libya and saw the medics [21]. On August 31, Bulgarian Foreign Minister Ivaylo Kalfin stated that Bulgaria would send humanitarian aid while not acknowledging the guilt of the medics [22][23]. On September 8, it was announced that Libya had prepared a list of 40 items (non-monetary) that should be sent as aid and that Bulgaria could supply 24 of them [24].

Incentives for a resolution

On April 12, 2005, reports surfaced that Libya was considering a trade embargo with Bulgaria for what the Libyan government termed Bulgaria's failure to prevent the HIV outbreak. Although the case has resulted in tense diplomatic negotiations in the past, this move is considered an unexpected escalation by Libya. The reports were later denied by Libya.

Libya has a motivation to resolve the case amicably with Europe in that it desires to join the EU's "Barcelona" trade partnership (see Barcelona Conference). Executing the medics under the current perceptions would almost certainly have ruined any chances of Libya's joining in the foreseeable future.

Relief (and protests) over reprieve

On December 25, 2005, Libya's supreme court overturned death sentences against the Benghazi Six, who had always denied intentionally infecting 426 children with HIV-contaminated blood.

Bulgarian president Georgi Parvanov said the court ruling "confirmed our hope that justice in this case will prevail". President Parvanov added: "The unfair death sentences were reversed....We hope that the swiftness and the effectiveness demonstrated by the Libyan court in the past days will help solve the case as soon as possible."

US State Department spokesman, Justin Higgins, described the decision as a "positive development since it removes the risk of the death penalty being carried out. As we have made clear before, we believe a way should be found to allow the medics to return to their home".

The Council of Europe welcomed the decision and said it hoped the new trial will "comply with the internationally recognised standards of fairness and due process".

However, parents and relatives of the 426 HIV-infected children—51 of whom are said to have died of AIDS—stood outside the supreme court protesting against the reprieve, and calling for the death penalties to be carried out. But Libyan prime minister, Shukri Ghanem, insisted that the fate of the Benghazi Six was entirely a juridical matter. In a statement broadcast on the Qatar TV channel Al Jazeera, Mr Ghanem said that all efforts should now be focused on the infected children, "who are subject to a death sentence each day".[25] On January 4, 2006, the families of the infected children estimated their claims at $2.7 billion (the exact sum offered by Libya in compensation for the 270 lives lost in the 1988 Lockerbie bombing).[26]

On May 3, 2006, the Bulgarian independent daily newspaper Novinar published a set of 12 cartoons mocking Gaddafi, Libyan justice and the Bulgarian government's 'quiet diplomacy' vis-à-vis the HIV trial. Publication of the cartoons caused outrage in Tripoli and the Libyan ambassador in Sofia delivered a protest note to the Bulgarian Foreign Ministry. In response, the Bulgarian Deputy Foreign Minister, Feim Chaushev, and President Parvanov apologized and distanced themselves from Novinar's cartoons.

External links

• Medics sentenced to death in Libya (Nature News), 19 December 2006
• Nature Special Report: 'A Shocking Lack of Evidence'
• Al Jazeera story December 19, 2006
• Guardian update December 17, 2006
• Reuters alert December 16, 2006
• Chronology up to December 6, 2006, by Reuters
• The Trial in Libya - extensive chronology up to December, 2004
• Medical Workers' Trial is Test Case for Libya's Progress - December 13, 2006
• Form to send an email to Libyan officials
• Petition in Support of The Bulgarian Nurses, Latest News on the trial
• The HIV Libya case resource page, October 2006 by Declan Butler, senior reporter at Nature
• Updates on the HIV trial in Libya, by Declan Butler, senior reporter at Nature
• Nature special focus on Libya case
• Documentary by Mickey Grant about the Bulgarian Nurses in Libya
• Der Spiegel newsarticle of 9 November 2005
• Quiet diplomacy is not enough, an article by the British Medical Journal.
• Template:Fr icon Letter from Luc Montagnier to Muammar al-Qaddafi after the death sentence
• Template:Fr icon Interview with the professor Luc Montagnier
• Template:Fr icon European parliament report on human rights in Libya (PDF format, 32 KB)
• Amnesty International report on human rights in Libya
• Physicians for Human Rights campaign - lobbying on behalf of the accused
• The Bulgarian Medics Solidarity Project - activist group in Britain lobbying to free the accused
• Libya lifts 'HIV medics' sentence
• Relief over Libya medics reprieve
• New trial for Libyan HIV medics
• Pictures and profiles of the defendants
• Sending Christmas cards to the nurses