Bulgaria forgives Libya $56.6m

The Bulgarian government agreed yesterday to forgive $56.6 million in Soviet-era debt owed by Libya and said the money would instead be paid into an international fund to help Libyan HIV/AIDS victims.

The announcement follows the release by Libya last week of six medics - five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor - convicted of infecting Libyan children with HIV in the 1990s.

After more than eight years in jail, Libya returned the medics to Bulgaria in a deal which included medical help, political ties between the EU and Tripoli, and compensation for the families of the victims.

The medics, who had been sentenced to death, have maintained their innocence and said they were tortured into confessing.

The Bulgarian government said in a statement the debt, accumulated for arms and technical deliveries during the communist era, would instead be paid into an international fund set up to help the families of more than 400 HIV victims.