Bianca Jagger begs Bulgaria medics release

SOFIA, Bulgaria, April 9 (UPI) -- Bianca Jagger, a political activist who works with several human rights groups, visited Sofia campaigning for the release of Bulgarian nurses in Libyan prisons.

After meeting Bulgarian Prime Minister Sergei Stanishev in Sofia Sunday, Jagger said she supported the You Are Not Alone initiative through which the international community is making efforts to free the five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor, the Bulgarian news agency BTA reported Monday.

Jagger said she will urge the European Union to help resolve the Bulgarian nurses issue.

In December, the five nurses and the doctor were sentenced to death by the Libyan court for deliberately infecting 426 Libyan children with HIV, of whom 52 died of AIDS. The six have been in Libyan jails since 1999.

Poor hygiene and multiple use of syringes are likely to be main causes for an HIV virus outbreak that resulted in AIDS cases in a Benghazi hospital, medical experts said.