Libya Evokes 1984 Accord With Bulgaria, French Mediation for Medics Release
In a report released today Tuesday, the Libyan news agency Jana said that following the mediation efforts by the French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, his wife Cecilia and EU Commissioner for External Affairs Benita Ferrero-Waldner, a decision was taken to implement Article 43 of the judicial agreement signed between Libya and Bulgaria on 18 March 1984 which stipulates that all Bulgarian and Libyan citizens sentenced to prison in either country would be extradited to their country of origin where they would serve the remainder of their sentences.
The agency then referred to the recent decision by the Libyan Higher Council of Judicial Bodies to commute the death sentences handed down to the five Bulgarian nurses and the Palestinian-born doctor to life imprisonment and also to the acceptance by the families of the children infected with the AIDS virus of the agreement reached with the International Benghazi Fund.
After the European Union pledged to provide medical care to the infected children for life and to equip the Benghazi Hospital, Al- Huwari Hospital and the new Medical Centre in Benghazi and also to finance the International Benghazi Fund set up for the families of the children, the Bulgarian medical team was flown back home via France to complete the jail sentences in one of the Bulgarian prisons, the Libyan news agency further said. It added that the Bulgarian medics were accompanied by Mrs Cecilia Sarkozy, the wife of the French president; Mrs Benita Ferrero-Waldner, the EU Commissioner for External Affairs; and Mr Claude Gueant, the secretary-general of the Elysee Palace.
The Libyan news agency concluded its report by saying that the Bulgarian medics were flown back home after a agreement to implement Article 41/3 of the 1984 judicial treaty was signed yesterday by the head of the Consular Affairs Department of the General People’s Committee for Foreign Liaison and International Relation and the Bulgarian ambassador to Libya.
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