Libya medics freed

PARIS – French President Nicolas Sarkozy said yesterday that neither the European Union nor France paid money to Libya for the release of five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor sentenced to life in Libya on charges of contaminating children with the AIDS virus.

However, he said Qatar mediated the release and hinted the Gulf country may have had a broader role in resolving the crisis. He did not elaborate.Bulgarian President Georgi Parvanov pardoned the six upon arrival in Sofia, the capital.”Neither Europe nor France has made the smallest financial contribution to Libya,” Sarkozy said at a news conference in Paris shortly after a French plane carrying the medics touched down in Sofia.First lady Cecilia Sarkozy, on her second visit to Libya, and European Union commissioner for foreign affairs, Benita Ferrero-Waldner, travelled to Libya on Sunday to try to secure release of the prisoners, whose death sentences had already been commuted.Libya accused the six of deliberately infecting more than 400 Libyan children with HIV.The medics, jailed since 1999, deny infecting the children and say their confessions were extracted under torture.Sarkozy ‘very warmly’ thanked Qatar for its role in the early release of the prisoners but did not elaborate.In response to a question about whether money had been paid to Libya for the release, Sarkozy said he wished to thank authorities of Qatar for their “mediation and their humanitarian intervention.””It’s up to them to say if they have anything to say on the subject” of their exact role, he said.He also announced that he and French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner would be visiting Libya today in a bid to ‘help Libya rejoin the international community’, confirming reports circulating in the Libyan capital, Tripoli.In a statement, Sarkozy and European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso expressed their gratitude for the ‘gesture of humanity by Libya’s highest leader’ and said they were ‘committed to doing everything to help children with AIDS’.The statement said the medics’ departure would not have been possible without Ferrero-Waldner’s efforts and Cecilia Sarkozy’s commitment.Nampa-APHe did not elaborate.Bulgarian President Georgi Parvanov pardoned the six upon arrival in Sofia, the capital.”Neither Europe nor France has made the smallest financial contribution to Libya,” Sarkozy said at a news conference in Paris shortly after a French plane carrying the medics touched down in Sofia.First lady Cecilia Sarkozy, on her second visit to Libya, and European Union commissioner for foreign affairs, Benita Ferrero-Waldner, travelled to Libya on Sunday to try to secure release of the prisoners, whose death sentences had already been commuted.Libya accused the six of deliberately infecting more than 400 Libyan children with HIV.The medics, jailed since 1999, deny infecting the children and say their confessions were extracted under torture.Sarkozy ‘very warmly’ thanked Qatar for its role in the early release of the prisoners but did not elaborate.In response to a question about whether money had been paid to Libya for the release, Sarkozy said he wished to thank authorities of Qatar for their “mediation and their humanitarian intervention.””It’s up to them to say if they have anything to say on the subject” of their exact role, he said.He also announced that he and French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner would be visiting Libya today in a bid to ‘help Libya rejoin the international community’, confirming reports circulating in the Libyan capital, Tripoli.In a statement, Sarkozy and European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso expressed their gratitude for the ‘gesture of humanity by Libya’s highest leader’ and said they were ‘committed to doing everything to help children with AIDS’.The statement said the medics’ departure would not have been possible without Ferrero-Waldner’s efforts and Cecilia Sarkozy’s commitment.Nampa-AP