Balkans

Five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor, who faced the death penalty in Libya until last week, were pardoned by Bulgarian President Georgi Parvanov on Tuesday (July 24th), less than an hour after they landed in Sofia.

Six foreign medics sentenced to death then life imprisonment in Libya in a controversial AIDS case were free in the Bulgarian capital Tuesday after the EU struck a multi-million-dollar financial and trade deal with Tripoli.

Six foreign medics convicted of deliberately infecting hundreds of Libyan children with HIV were freed on Tuesday after a partnership deal between Tripoli and the European Union ended their eight-year ordeal.

The government will ask the UN war crimes tribunal to allow convicts to serve their sentences in their home countries, Rasim Ljajic, the official in charge of ties with the UN court, said on Thursday (July 19th).

International community High Representative Miroslav Lajcak said on Thursday (July 19th) that the foreign military presence in BiH must be maintained.

Kosovo should unilaterally declare independence from Serbia on November 28th, Prime Minister Agim Ceku suggested on Friday (July 20th), arguing that Western efforts to put the province on the path to statehood through the UN have failed.

Bulgaria on Thursday officially requested the transfer from Libya of six medical workers whose death sentences for infecting children with HIV have been commuted to life imprisonment.

Surse din cadrul serviciilor de securitate bulgare au declarat pentru mass-media din această ţară că unităţi speciale ale poliţiei de la Sofia au percheziţionat sediile mai multor moschei şi fundaţii religioase musulmane din regiunea oraşului Razgrad.

Bulgaria said on Wednesday (July 18th) it is sending an official request to Tripoli for the transfer of five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor convicted of deliberately infecting more than 400 Libyan children with HIV.

Speaking to the OSCE Permanent Council in Vienna on Tuesday (July 17th), Serbian Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic said expedited EU accession is his country’s top priority. Jeremic said he believed entry into the bloc is the ultimate goal for all countries in the region, spurring co-operation.