Death penalty cancelled for Bulgarian nurses

Five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor convicted of deliberately infecting hundreds of children with the HIV virus in Libya have had their death sentences commuted to life in prison.

A Libyan court agreed to soften the sentence in exchange for US$1 MLN compensation to each of the 460 families affected.

At least fifty of the infected children have already died.

Libya's Foreign Minister says the case which has been going on for nine years is now closed. Officials are now negotiating the possible extradition of the prisoners to Bulgaria.