On February 9, 1999, in Benghazi, the Libyan authorities detained several dozen medical workers, including 23 Bulgarians. A few days later, most of them were released. Nurses Kristiana Valcheva, Nasya Nenova, Valentina Siropulo, Valya Chervenyashka and Snezhana Dimitrova, Dr. Zdravko Georgiev and Palestinian medical student Ashraf al-Hajjuj remain in custody. It is believed that they were detained as witnesses for almost a year, BNR recalls.
In 2000 The doctors are accused of deliberately infecting over 400 children with the HIV virus and causing an AIDS epidemic in Benghazi with the aim of destabilizing the Jamahiriya. The doctors are defended by lawyers Vladimir Sheitanov, Plamen Yalnuzov, Georgi Gatev and Hari Haralampiev, and on the Libyan side by Osman Bizanti.
Bulgarian nurses started working at the “Al-Fatah” hospital in Benghazi in 1998. However, Sister Kristiana Valcheva never worked at this hospital, and her husband, Dr. Zdravko Georgiev, works in the desert. In the same year, parents of AIDS-infected children stormed a health conference and demanded that the state intervene in the growing crisis, while others filed complaints with the Ministry of Health. Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi promised strict retribution for the perpetrators. However, the documents show that already in the early 90s in Benghazi there were known cases of AIDS patients, and the infections increased in 1997-1998.
The health authorities are hiding the real cause of their illnesses from the children's parents, as they fear that if the information about the lack of supplies and knowledge of the staff becomes public, a serious problem will arise. What is the solution? The blame is thrown on foreign medical workers. More than once during the crisis with the Bulgarian doctors, the phrase was heard that everything is unpredictable in Libya. This is not entirely true - Muammar Gaddafi's behavior is based on rational considerations of balancing the internal tension in Libya between the different social groups and of blackmailing the West.
4 cases have been opened against the identified culprits. The first case was from 1999 by the People's Court of Libya for conspiracy against the state and began without the Bulgarian side being officially notified. It was terminated because the court saw no evidence to support the charges, the doctors stated that the confessions were obtained through torture. In the meantime, Libya withdrew the charge of complicity in a conspiracy with the CIA and MOSSAD.
But the Criminal Court in Benghazi opened a new case in 2002 for illegal testing of medications and infection with HIV mutations. The recognized expert Luc Montagnier (the discoverer of HIV) appeared as a witness at the hearing to state that the infections were a result of poor hygiene in hospitals - even before the defendants started working there.
However, in the next case from 2003 The Criminal Court in Benghazi sentenced the seven medics to death on charges of intentionally infecting over 400 children. Dr. Zdravko Georgiev was sentenced to 4 years in prison and deprivation of civil rights for illegal foreign currency transactions. In December 2006, despite pressure from the EU and the US, the Bulgarian nurses and the Palestinian doctor received repeated death sentences from the Criminal Court in Tripoli.
After eight years in prison and several confirmed death sentences, the happy ending came on July 24, 2007. French President Nicolas Sarkozy officially announced that France and the European Union had agreed to extradite the prisoners from Libya.
The date of July 24, 2007 put an end to the 2,910-day nightmare to which our doctors were subjected. They arrived at Sofia Airport, and President Georgi Parvanov issued a decree pardoning them and allowing them to continue their lives freely. The case against them remains a huge stain on Bulgarian foreign policy, due to the lack of quick and adequate action to protect and release the detainees.
Four years later - in 2011, after mass protests began in Libya, former Minister of Justice Mustafa Abdel Jalil stated on Al Jazeera TV that Gaddafi was to blame for infecting Libyan children with AIDS, thus morally exonerating Bulgarian doctors.