HIV trial in Libya

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In the so-called HIV trial in Libya , five Bulgarian nurses (Kristiyana Valcheva, Nasja Nenova, Walentina Siropulo, Valya Chervenyashka and Sneschana Dimitrova) and the Palestinian doctor Ashraf al-Hajuj (since June 2007 with Bulgarian children of Libyan nationality) were accused of having hundreds of children To have deliberately infected the children's clinic of the “El-Fateh” central hospital in Benghazi with HIV . Further allegations were later added, such as the cooperation with foreign secret services or the violation of norms and traditions in Libya (Adultery, illegal currency trading, including making, distributing and consuming alcohol).

In several show trials that lasted a total of eight years, the defendants were sentenced to death for the various allegations against which they were charged. The case became an international political issue. Bulgaria , the European Union , the USA , but also human rights organizations such as Amnesty International campaigned for the release of prisoners who, in their opinion, were used by the Gaddafi regime as scapegoats for the HIV epidemic that was rampant in Libya. In 2007, the death sentences were commuted to life imprisonment in exchange for “compensation payments” to the Libyan families concerned. On July 24, 2007, after further negotiations, the prisoners were flown to the Bulgarian capital Sofia , where they were immediately pardoned by the Bulgarian President Georgi Parvanov . The freedmen, who always insisted on their innocence, made serious allegations of torture against Libya. In August of the same year, the son of Libyan head of state Muammar al-Gaddafi , Saif al-Islam al-Gaddafi , finally admitted that the nurses and the doctor had been tortured and politically abused.

prehistory

The nurses Kristiyana Valcheva, Nasja Nenova, Valentina Siropulo, Valya Chervenyashka and Sneschana Dimitrova as well as the doctor Ashraf al-Hajuj came to Libya in 1998 to work in the children's clinic in Benghazi and above all to avoid the economic collapse of Bulgaria. In the department there was a real HIV epidemic, in which, according to Libyan information, 393 children were infected, around 40 had already died from the effects of AIDS . The reasons for this should be clarified in the process: While on the one hand the suspicion was expressed that this was done on purpose, others referred to the hygienic conditions of the hospital.

As a motive for the perpetrators, the proponents of the theory of a deliberate infection believed the Palestinian doctor's thirst for revenge against the Libyans. The Bulgarians were simply bribed. Defense representatives pointed out that the epidemic had started before the suspects arrived. The Bulgarian doctor Dr. Zdrawko Georgiev charged with illegal currency trading. The charges against him came after he traveled to Libya to arrest his wife, Kristiyana Valcheva. Zdrawko Georgiev was sentenced to four years in prison.

History of proceedings

Proceedings 44/1999 before the regional court in Libya

(February 7th to 17th, 2000)

The process started without consulting the Bulgarian embassy . The indictment was based on the thesis of the Libyan head of state Muammar al-Gaddafi , according to which there was a conspiracy controlled by the CIA and the Israeli secret service Mossad . Muammar al-Gaddafi's thesis has been declared absurd by the international press. During the trial, the defendants stated that they had been tortured and humiliated (electric shocks and beatings) to make confessions (al-Hajuj, Valcheva and Siropulo). In the absence of evidence suggesting a conspiracy against the state, the trial was eventually dropped. However, other charges were upheld and the defendants remained in custody.

Proceedings 213/2002 before the criminal court in Benghazi and further developments

(July 8, 2003 to 2004 [add exact date!])

In advance of the new proceedings, the Bulgarian Foreign Minister Solomon Pasi traveled to Tripoli on February 2, 2003 and held talks with the Libyan Foreign Minister Abdel Rahman Shalgham and the Minister for Justice and Security, Muhammad Ali al-Musrati. In addition to bilateral relations, the talks also primarily focused on the slow trial against the defendants.

On June 2, 2003, the Bulgarian Justice Minister Anton Stankov asked the Libyan government to speed up the judicial process and move the trial from Benghazi to Tripoli so that the accusations can be dealt with more freely in court.

On June 8, 2003, Bulgarian Foreign Minister Solomon Isaak Pasi announced the departure of Maria Zasheva, who had been detained in Libya for two years. The nurse has been linked to the HIV outbreak at the Benghazi children's clinic but, unlike her colleagues, was able to flee to the Bulgarian embassy in Tripoli to avoid arrest. Maria Zasheva was unable to leave the country because the Libyan authorities withdrew her passport, which was only released in June so that the nurse could fly back home.

Libya is withdrawing the charges that the medics acted on behalf of the CIA and the Israeli secret service and is bringing a new charge: The accused are said to have infected children with mutations of the HIV virus and tried drugs illegally.

Bulgaria, however, accused Libya of being a political show trial and repeatedly demanded that an independent team of experts (Swiss and French) be commissioned to investigate the case. The Libyan court initially rejected the application. Defense attorney Othman el-Bezanti pointed out to the court that the reason for the infections was the poor hygiene in the hospital in Benghazi, especially since some infections were caused by the reuse of syringes.

During the trial on 3 September 2003, as experts Professor Luc Montagnier , discoverer of the HIV virus, and Professor Vittorio Colizzi of the Department of Microbiology of the University of Rome as appraiser belongs. The experts cite the hygienic conditions in the hospital as the most likely cause of HIV infection and date the infection to a time before the accused's arrival. After the meeting, the British broadcaster BBC published a report on the development of the process entitled "Bulgarian medical professionals did not spread HIV."

On October 15, 2003, Eleonora Dimitrova, a member of the Bulgarian Embassy in Tripoli, was forbidden from participating in the trial. The hearings in the courtroom on October 13 allegedly broke out after the embassy employee believed reports of mistreatment against the accused.

On December 19, 2003, Bulgarian Foreign Minister Pasi made his fourth visit within two years to Libya and visited the imprisoned Bulgarian doctors and nurses.

The director of the Libyan anti-HIV / AIDS program Ahmad Mahmoud told the Libyan daily Al-Shams on December 28, 2003 that 975 people in the country are infected with the immunodeficiency disease HIV. 175 of them are foreigners. Mamoud also stated that all infected foreigners must leave the country. The National Center for Diseases previously announced that around 1,852 cases were registered in 2000 and around 319 new cases were added in 2001.

Other incidents outside of the process

Aside from the trial, it became known that on September 25, 2003, the 47-year-old Bulgarian nurse Diana G.V. was found dead in her apartment in Benghazi. The Libyan police assumed a suicide. Diana G. V. worked for three to four years in the rehabilitation clinic of Benghazi (El Fateh Association Rehabilitation Center). Emil Manolov, the local Bulgarian consul, stated that the woman suffered from a mental illness and was already receiving treatment.

According to the Bulgarian newspaper Standart , there was also an incident in 2001. Another Bulgarian nurse (Erna K.) had informed her family of the intended return to her home country. She worked in Tripoli and apparently had a relationship with a manager at the clinic. The man is said to have beaten the nurse until she fell into a coma. She had told her family in Bulgaria of threats from the man. Libyan sources, on the other hand, claim that the Bulgarian had a psychological problem that resulted in a suicidal drama.

Proceedings 607/2003 before the criminal court in Benghazi

([Enter the date of the start of the process!] By May 6, 2004)

The five Bulgarian nurses and the Palestinian doctor were found guilty of deliberately infecting 369 children with HIV by the criminal court on May 6, 2004, and sentenced to death by shooting . Nine Libyans who were also indicted were acquitted. Dr. Zdrawko Georgiev was sentenced to four years in prison and a fine for illegal currency trading. The court obliges Ashraf al-Hajuj, Kristiyana Valcheva and Nasja Nenova to pay the parents of the Libyan children pain and suffering of over 4 billion US dollars . The defense argued differently. "It is a shocking verdict. My clients expected to be convicted of negligence and had assumed imprisonment instead of the death penalty ," said defense attorney Othmane Bizanti of the Reuters news agency.

In January 2004, the European Union recommended Libya, in a letter submitted by the ambassadors of the Netherlands and Great Britain to Libya, to withdraw the charges against the medics. Amnesty International , the US State Department and other international organizations expressed their deep concern about the trial. The Bulgarian government declares this judgment to be absurd and advocates the liberation of medical professionals.

On August 4, 2004, a delegation from the European Union headed by the EU Commissioner for AIDS Affairs, Dr. Lieve Fransen, the City of Benghazi, to provide medical aid to the infected children. Meanwhile, HIV-infected children in Benghazi protested publicly and held up protest posters in Bulgarian.

On November 2, 2004, revolutionary leader Muammar al Gaddafi spoke out in favor of abolishing the death penalty in Libya. In a speech televised to judges and students, he said: "We will campaign for the abolition of the death penalty, inside and outside the courts."

On December 5, 2004, Libya announced that the death penalty would be lifted. Foreign minister Mohammed Abdel-Rahman Shalgam told the Reuters news agency in Tripoli that Bulgaria had to pay compensation. Shalgam said: "We have three problems: the infected children, the deceased children and the convicted Bulgarians. We must therefore solve all three problems together." Libya wants Bulgaria to make direct contact with the families concerned and pay financial compensation. Bulgaria should also finance the construction of a clinic for AIDS patients. "When these two steps have been taken, we can talk about the third, which involves the waiver of the death sentence," said the minister. Shalgam had previously met with the Bulgarian Foreign Minister Solomon Pasi in the Netherlands.

Proceedings before the Supreme Court in Tripoli

In the run-up to the appeal proceedings in the Supreme Court, Libya planned to impose a trade and investment embargo on Bulgaria, which would then be forced to take responsibility for the infection of 426 Libyan children, who were treated by five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor in the children's clinic Benghazi had been infected with HIV. "Libya is boycotting Bulgarian companies and closing the doors to all investment and trade opportunities affecting Bulgarian companies because the Bulgarian government has ignored all claims for compensation in order to take responsibility for the actions of its citizens in the HIV case," a government official said Reuters news agency . With the mediation of the European Union and the United States, Bulgaria and Libya agreed in December 2005 to set up a fund for children infected with HIV. The Bulgarian government refused to enter into discussions about compensation payments, as the convicted medics were innocent.

After the trial in the Tripoli Supreme Court was closed, the death sentence was overturned on December 25, 2005 and the trial was reopened.

New trial in 2006, new death sentence and its conversion

(May 11, 2006 - July 17, 2007)

On May 11, 2006, a new trial began in Tripoli. It ended on December 19, 2006 with a new death sentence, which was upheld in July 2007 by the Supreme Judiciary Council. It was subsequently announced that all parents of the deceased children had agreed to accept compensation payments. In total, such payments were to be made in 458 cases, to parents of deceased or sick children and to infected mothers. On July 17, 2007, the Libyan Judicial Council commuted the death sentence to life imprisonment.

Bulgaria requested the extradition of the convicted immediately after the sentence was commuted. Through the mediation of the European Union and Qatar , the five nurses and the doctors were able to leave Libya on July 24, 2007 in a French government aircraft and accompanied by Cécilia Sarkozy , the then wife of the French President , and EU Foreign Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner and to Sofia to return. There they were pardoned on the day of their arrival by Bulgarian President Georgi Parvanov and are thus free again after eight years in prison.

After the condemned had been pardoned, Libya protested a day later and summoned the first secretary of the Bulgarian embassy . The families of the infected children also demanded that diplomatic relations with Bulgaria be broken off and that all Bulgarians be deported. On July 26, 2007, Libya also called for an emergency meeting of the Arab League in order to implement diplomatic and economic sanctions against Bulgaria.

After the release

The five Bulgarian nurses released from Libyan custody and the Palestinian doctor announced to the international press that they had been mistreated several times during the eight years of imprisonment. Sneschana Dimitrova from Litakovo reported torture and humiliation during solitary confinement. The native Palestinian doctor Ashraf al-Hajuj also stated in an interview with Dutch television that he was drugged and tortured with electric shocks to the feet and genitals by the Libyan side while he was in custody.

After the extradition of those who had been sentenced to death, Libya announced that the Benghasi International Fund from the Czech Republic , Slovakia , Qatar and Bulgaria and 26 other sources had contributed around 460 million US dollars to the families of HIV-infected children should be paid. After France surprisingly signed a letter of intent to build a nuclear power plant in Libya, the country was also promised financial aid to modernize the central hospital in Benghazi.

Possible motives of Libya

Two different, non-contradicting motives for staging an intrigue are traded:

  1. The real cause of the HIV infection is said to be that politicians are said to have done business with contaminated syringes on the black market. This is the result of research by British documentary filmmaker Mickey Grant .
  2. The lawyers of the parents of the infected are to demand damages of US $ 12 million per child. With around 400 children, the total is around $ 4.8 billion, which corresponds to a third of the Libyan state budget.

The situation described would represent a motive to pass the blame on to foreigners in order not to have to deal with domestic political unrest.

Admission of guilt by Gaddafi's son

For the first time, in August 2007, a prominent person in Libya, Saif al-Islam al-Gaddafi , a son of the Libyan revolutionary leader Muammar al-Gaddafi, publicly shared the assessment of international observers that the recently released Bulgarian nurses were abused and politically abused were.

The international press about the process

With a few exceptions, the international press did not pay much attention to the trials. Most of the time it was believed that the defendants should have served as scapegoats for the HIV epidemic. The Libyan and part of the Arab press, however, assumed a fair trial. Throughout the Bulgarian press, the trials have been described as absurd without exception.

Ashraf Al-Hajuj at the World Conference Against Racism 2009

In 2009, the case came back into the public eye during the fourth World Conference against Racism in Geneva. The Libyan chairman of the main committee of the conference, Najjat ​​al-Hajjaji, caused a scandal by interrupting Ashraf Al-Hajuj, who spoke on behalf of the UN Watch organization , several times and finally deprived him of the right to speak. Hajuj wanted to present his fate to the plenary present and obtain a condemnation of Libya. Al-Hajjaji justified her decision by claiming that the presented case had nothing to do with the topics of the conference.

Kristijana Waltschewa in the UN Human Rights Council in September 2010

When Kristijana Waltschewa wanted to report to the UN Human Rights Council on September 16, 2010 about the torture in Libyan custody, she was interrupted several times. The representatives of Libya , Iran , China and Cuba criticized the fact that their description was too detailed and wanted to break off their presentation with reference to the agenda .

Book publication

One of the nurses involved published her story:

Web links

Proof of quotations, accompanying footnotes
  1. ^ Human Rights Watch: Libya: Foreign Health Workers Describe Torture. November 13, 2005, last accessed October 27, 2011.
  2. ↑ Libya overturns death sentences against Bulgarians , SPIEGEL Online, July 17, 2007
  3. ↑ Bulgarian doctors landed in Sofia (tagesschau.de archive) , tagesschau.de, July 24, 2007
  4. ↑ pardon
  5. ^ Libya protests against pardon , SPIEGEL Online, July 25, 2007
  6. ↑ http://africa.reuters.com/wire/news/usnL28367398.html  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / africa.reuters.com  
  7. ↑ hen / Reuters / dpa / AP, mirror message: Gaddafi son confirms torture and show trial . In: Spiegel Online on August 9, 2007
  8. ↑ http://www.unwatch.org/site/c.bdKKISNqEmG/b.5109305/k.891C/Confrontation_at_Durban_II.htm
  9. ↑ Bulgarian Nurse Tortured by Libya Testifies at UNHRC - UN Watch

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