The HIV trial in Libya (or Bulgarian nurses affair) concerns the trials, appeals and eventual release of six foreign medical workers charged with conspiring to deliberately infect over 400 children with HIV in 1998, causing an epidemic at El-Fatih Children's Hospital in Benghazi, Libya. About 56 of the infected children had died by August 2007. The total number of victims rose to 131 in 2022.
The defendants, arrested in 1999, were five Bulgarian nurses (often termed "medics") and a Palestinian medical intern. They were first sentenced to death, then had their case remanded to Libya's highest court, and were sentenced to death again, a penalty which was upheld by Libya's highest court in early July 2007. The six then had their sentences commuted to life in prison by a Libyan government panel. They were released following a deal reached with European Union representatives on humanitarian issues; the EU did not condone the guilty verdict in Libya against the six. On 24 July 2007, the five medics and the doctor were extradited to Bulgaria, where their sentences were commuted by the Bulgarian President Georgi Parvanov and they were freed. Furthermore, a controversy has arisen concerning the terms of release, which allegedly include an arms trade as well as a civilian nuclear cooperation agreement signed by French President Nicolas Sarkozy in July 2007. Both the French and Bulgarian presidents have denied that the two deals were related to the liberation of the six, although this has been alleged by a variety of sources, including Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, son of former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi.
The epidemic at El-Fatih and the subsequent trials were highly politicized and controversial. The medics say that they were forced to confess under torture and that they are innocent. Saif al-Islam Gaddafi later confirmed that Libyan investigators tortured the medics with electric shocks and threatened to target their families in order to extract the confessions, and confirmed that some of the children had been infected with HIV before the medics arrived in Libya. He said that the guilty verdict of the Libyan courts had been based on "conflicting reports" and said, "There is negligence, there is a disaster that took place, there is a tragedy, but it was not deliberate."
Some of the world's foremost HIV experts had written to courts and the Libyan government on the medics' behalf, blaming the epidemic on poor hygiene practices in the hospital. The epidemic is the largest documented outbreak of HIV within a hospital in history, and it was the first time HIV/AIDS became a public issue in Libya. Virologists Luc Montagnier and Vittorio Colizzi, supported the medics' case, and reaction to their convictions was swift, with a number of appeals from scientific and human rights organizations, and various official condemnations of the verdict along with diplomatic initiatives.
Three of the Bulgarian medics published autobiographical books regarding the trial: Eight and a Half Years Hostage of Gaddafi by Kristiyana Vulcheva, In Gaddafi's Cage by Snezhana Dimitrova and Notes from Hell by Valya Cherveniashka and Nikolay Yordanov.
El-Fatih epidemic in Libya and accusations The El-Fatih epidemic is the largest documented incident of nosocomial (hospital-induced) infection of HIV in history. The Libyan public was enraged and many foreign medical workers were arrested; six were eventually charged. Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi initially blamed the CIA or Mossad for plotting to carry out a deadly experiment on the Libyan children.
The crisis first came to light in November 1998 when Libyan La magazine (issue 78) published an exposé about AIDS at the hospital. In December, the Association of Libyan Writers reported over 60 HIV cases so far that year in Libya. La interviewed Sulaiman al-Ghemari, Libyan Minister for Health, who told them that most of the cases concerned children. Parents suspected their children had been infected through blood transfusions in Benghazi's main children's hospital. Although La magazine was shut down, it was eventually revealed that over 400 children had been infected. Libya requested and received an emergency WHO team, which was sent in December and stayed through January 1999. The WHO team issued a classified report on the situation.
In February 1999, the Bulgarian embassy announced that 23 Bulgarian medical workers had been detained. A week later they were informed by Libyan authorities that "precautionary measures" had been taken against Bulgarian doctors and nurses working at the Benghazi Children’s Hospital. Most of the nurses were recruited by Bulgarian state-owned company Expomed to work at the Libyan hospital, where pay was considerably higher than they could receive at home, beginning work in February 1998. On 7 March 1999, six members of the group subjected to "precautionary measures" were formally arrested on a warrant in connection with the HIV infections of children in Benghazi. The group consisted of Ashraf al-Hadzhudzh, a Palestinian intern, and Bulgarian nurses Kristiyana Valtcheva, Nasya Nenova, Valentina Siropulo, Valya Chervenyashka and Snezhana Dimitrova. They later became widely known as "Ashraf al-Hajuj, a Palestinian doctor".
Libyan HIV victims Well over 400 children were infected with HIV at the El-Fatih Children's Hospital. Some were receiving treatment in Europe. The death toll went up to 50. Parents and relatives of the children protested, and demanded that death penalties be carried out against those responsible. Libyan prime minister Shukri Ghanem insisted that the outcome of the trial was entirely a judicial matter. In a statement broadcast on Al Jazeera, Ghanem said that all efforts should now be focused on the infected children, "who are subject to a death sentence each day." The families of the infected children also demanded compensation for the actions taken by the convicted medics; figures of up to $10 million per family were mentioned. In July 2007, Libya announced a settlement had been reached, with $400 million going to the 426 victims' families in exchange for conversion of the nurses' sentences from death to life in prison.
Defendants Initially, 23 foreign medical personnel, mostly Bulgarian, were arrested; 17 were subsequently released and returned to Bulgaria. Additionally, 11 Libyan nationals were arrested and charged with the alleged crimes. Doctor Zdravko Georgiev went to Libya to see his wife (Valtcheva) and was subsequently detained and tried on the charge of illegally transacting in foreign currency. Several Libyans were also arrested and tried on non-capital offences: Abdul Azis Husein Mohammed Shembesh, Abdul Menam Ahmed Mohammed al-Sherif, Idris Maatuk Mohammed al-Amari, Salim Ibrahim Suleyman Abe Garara, Mansur al-Mansur Saleh al-Mauhub, Nureddin Abdulhamid Halil Dagman and Saad Musa Suleyman al-Amruni.
Ashraf Ahmed al-Hadzhudzh Ashraf al-Hadzhudzh was defendant number one in the case. In the prosecution's view he was a man in a deadly criminal ring of female nurses dedicated to a plot involving agents of foreign governments; large sums of money; illegal, adulterous sex; and illegal alcohol. He was convicted of murdering 426 Libyan children in carrying out the plot, with the intention of destabilizing the country. He was an intern who started working at the hospital two months before news of the epidemic broke out. His family fled Libya to the Netherlands because, according to them, they had been portrayed by the Libyan media as "killers of innocent children". Ashraf's cousin in the Palestinian Territories As'ad El-Hajouj, told the Turkish Daily News that Ashraf had lost an eye and that one of his hands had been paralyzed due to torture endured in prison. Ashraf al-Hadzhudzh was granted Bulgarian citizenship on 19 June 2007.
Kristiyana Vulcheva Kristiyana Vulcheva, wife of Zdravko Georgiev, was not recruited by Expomed. She was charged along with the others, but was ultimately found not guilty of all charges after initially having been convicted of currency violations. Purported by the prosecution to be the ringleader of the plot, it was claimed that she spoke Arabic and had a luxurious lifestyle. The other four testified that they had never seen Vulcheva before their blindfolds were taken off after their kidnapping by Libyan security, when they were first brought to the police compound in February 1999. Vulcheva was also the only one charged and convicted of illegally distilling alcohol. The defense pointed out that no device used to do this was produced at trial. She admitted in court to having seen Ashraf at the Benghazi Children's Hospital. Unlike Ashraf, she never confessed to having sexual relations with him, which is required for a conviction for the crime of adultery under Libyan law. She retracted her confession that vials were given to her by a British citizen which were used to infect the children, denying knowing any such person as "John the Englishman" or having been paid "large sums of money" to infect the children. After the re-imposition of the death sentence in 2006 it was announced that Vulcheva would be seeking to have Vladimir Sheitanov represent her again. Plamen Yalnuzov had replaced him as representative for the Bulgarians in 2002.
After the verdict her mother made a public plea: "We are sending our plea to the British government and the victims of Lockerbie. We are well aware the issue is painful to all, but in the name of the most humane of the professions we ask them to be merciful and let Megrahi go.", referring to Abdelbaset al-Megrahi who was serving a life sentence in Scotland for the Lockerbie bombing.
Gaddafi has repeatedly compared the two cases. After the 2006 verdict he said, "Organisations like the Arab League, the non-aligned movement and the Islamic Conference said al-Megrahi was a political prisoner and international observers said elements of foreign intelligence were present at the trial... Nobody asked for his release."
Nasya Nenova Nasya Nenova attempted suicide. She testified that she confessed and attempted suicide because she was afraid she would be tortured again. She was interrogated alongside Ashraf and told the court they were beaten and that there was no interpreter. She did not confess to having illegal sexual relations with him. She, along with Vulcheva, are the only nurses who admitted knowing Ashraf by sight beforehand, but she said she had never spoken with him. She denied having attempted suicide out of guilt for what she had done. In court she stated that "I am not guilty on any of the counts. My conscience is clear." and "We had protection from no one, we had no doctor. We were alone there with those men who did everything they wanted to do". She said she attempted to retract her confession on 17 July 1999, but that a Colonel Juma came and threatened to renew the torture if she persisted.
She is seeking to reappoint Vladimir Sheitanov as a replacement for defence attorneys Yalnyzov and Byzanti after the 2006 death sentence.
Valya Chervenyashka
She is from Byala Slatina. She was recruited by Expomed company. Her husband, Emil Uzunov, in a 2003 interview with Bulgarian National Radio (BNR) said that the defense lawyer Bizanti was one of the torturers who beat the six medics during the initial interrogations. Chervenyashka had to correct the story. "I suppose my husband was too nervous and over-reacted," she said.
Her daughter Antoaneta Uzunova has commented on the case. "It's been terrible...The charges were absurd then, they remain absurd now," she said in 2005. "When I heard them being described as CIA agents...I knew what would happen," said Uzunova, 28. "Then we found out our loved ones had been tortured in a most cruel way. It's a nightmare."
At another time, she said "Nurses from little towns in Bulgaria acting as agents of Mossad? It all sounds funny and absurd until you realize your mother could die for it."