17 Years Ago Today: Libya's Supreme Court Upholds Death Sentences for Five Bulgarian Nurses in AIDS Case

Seventeen years ago today, Libya's Supreme Court of Cassation confirmed conclusively the death sentences imposed on five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor on December 19, 2006 by the Criminal Court on charges of deliberate HIV infection of hundreds of Libyan children in Benghazi.

Held in Libyan custody since 1999, the defendants said throughout they have been tortured into making false confessions, on which the prosecution case rests. Nurses Kristiyana Vulcheva, Nassya Nenova, Valentina Siropoulo, Valya Chervenyashka, Snezhana Dimitrova and doctor Ashraf al-Hadjudj, who was was granted Bulgarian citizenship earlier in 2007, were not present as the Supreme Court announced its decision....