U.S. favors release of Bulgarians

Share with X

WASHINGTON, May 5 (UPI) -- The United States Wednesday assured Bulgaria it will continue to seek the release of six Bulgarian health workers detained in Libya.

The assurance was given by Secretary of State Colin Powell during a meeting with Bulgarian Foreign Minister Solomon Passy in Washington. Powell said Libyan courts are expected to decide the matter in the next 24 hours and hoped it would be a positive decision.

"The United States will continue to follow this matter very closely and do everything we can to bring pressure on the Libyan government to resolve this matter so these people are released and can return home," he said.

The six Bulgarian health workers were arrested five years ago and are still on trial, alongside nine Libyan doctors.

They are accused of deliberately infecting 426 children with the HIV virus, while working in al-Fateh Children's Hospital in Benghazi.

Latest Headlines