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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. The defendants, arrested in 1999, were a Palestinian medical intern and five Bulgarian nurses (often termed "medics"). They were first sentenced to death, then had their case remanded by 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. Libya has since complained about the releases, and the issue remains ongoing. 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 president and the Bulgarian president 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 that ''"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 AIDS became a public issue in Libya. Two of the world's foremost HIV experts, 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 auto-biografical books regarding the trial: "8 and a half years hostage of Gaddafi" by Kristiyana Vulcheva;〔https://www.alarabiya.net/articles/2007/11/12/41579.html〕 "In Gaddafi's Cage" by Snezhana Dimitrova,〔https://www.helikon.bg/books/21/-В-клетката-на-Кадафи_130506.html〕 and Notes from Hell by Valya Cherveniashka and Nikolay Yordanov.〔https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/23385061-notes-from-hell〕 ==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 cases of AIDS 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 believed their children were infected through blood transfusion 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 to January 1999. The WHO team issued a classified report on the situation. In February 1999 the Bulgarian embassy announced that 23 Bulgarian specialists had been "kidnapped". 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 case of infecting children in Benghazi with HIV.〔 〕 The group consisted of Ashraf Al Hajuj, a Palestinian intern, and Bulgarian nurses Kristiyana Valtcheva, Nasya Nenova, Valentina Siropulo, Valya Chervenyashka, and Snezhana Dimitrova. They later became widely known as ''"the Benghazi Six"''. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「HIV trial in Libya」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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