Bulgarian medics freed by Libya after being held for more than eight years want legal action to be taken against the people they say tortured them while they were held in prison.
"We can forgive, but we cannot forget what has happened to us," Nasya Nenova, one of the six medics, told a news conference on Wednesday.
Kristiana Valcheva, Nasya Nenova and Ashraf al Hazouz said they were ready to testify in an investigation into 11 Libyan police officers, which Bulgaria started last January for alleged torture of the medics.
Libya had accused the six of deliberately infecting more than 400 Libyan children with HIV. Fifty of the children died. The medics, jailed since 1999, were initially sentenced to death, but later had their sentence commuted to life imprisonment. They denied the charge and said their confessions were extracted under torture.
Speaking on Wednesday at their first press conference after being extradited to Bulgaria on Tuesday on the basis of a bilateral prisoner exchange treaty, the medics said they could forgive those who tortured them but said they want them tried.
"They tortured us, they did not allow us to have a lawyer. It was only after 13 months that we could meet with our lawyer and try to whisper what they were doing to us," Kristiana Valcheva said.
The Libyans will be investigated for allegedly using coercion, torture and threats -- between February and May 1999 -- to extract false confessions from the medics.
There has been no indication Libya would allow the officers to travel to Bulgaria to take part in any trial.
The medics received an emotional welcome on Tuesday from family members, government officials and hundreds of ordinary Bulgarians. They were immediately granted a presidential pardon.
Sofia brushed aside protests from Tripoli yesterday over the pardons.
"There is absolutely no obstacle whatsoever to the pardoning of the Bulgarian medics," Prosecutor General Boris Velchev told the BGNES news agency.
LEVERAGE: China did not ‘need to fire a shot’ to deny Taiwan airspace over Africa when it owns ‘half the continent’s debt,’ a US official said, calling it economic warfare The EU has raised concerns about overflight rights following the delay of President William Lai’s (賴清德) planned state visit to the Kingdom of Eswatini after three African nations denied overflight clearance for his charter at the last minute. Taiwanese allies Paraguay and Saint Kitts and Nevis, as well as several US lawmakers and the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China (IPAC) condemned China for allegedly pressuring the countries. Lai was scheduled to fly directly to Taiwan’s only African ally from yesterday to Sunday to celebrate the 40th anniversary of King Mswati III’s accession and his 58th birthday, but Seychelles, Mauritius and Madagascar suddenly revoked
The number of pet cats in Taiwan surpassed that of pet dogs for the first time last year, reaching 1,742,033, a 32.8 percent increase from 2023, the Ministry of Agriculture said yesterday, citing a survey. By contrast, the number of pet dogs declined slightly by 1.2 percent over the same period to 1,462,528, the ministry said. Despite the shift, households with dogs still slightly outnumber those with cats by 1.2 percent. However, while the number of households with multiple dogs has remained relatively stable, households keeping more than two cats have increased, contributing to the overall rise in the feline population. The trend
China on Wednesday teased in a video an aircraft carrier that could be its fourth, and the first using nuclear power, while making an allusion to Taiwan and vowing to further build up its islands, as it looks to boost maritime power, secure resources and bolster territorial claims. The video, issued on the eve of the 77th founding anniversary of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy, featured fictional officers with names that are homophones of three commissioned aircraft carriers, the Liaoning (遼寧), Shandong (山東) and Fujian (福建). Titled Into the Deep, it showed a 19-year-old named “Hejian” (何劍) joining the group, sparking
Taiwan has signed six arms procurement offers from the US totaling more than NT$208 billion (US$6.59 billion) covering long-range precision strike systems, missile stockpile replenishment and joint production of large-caliber ammunition, the Ministry of National Defense said yesterday. The government’s proposed NT$1.25 trillion special defense budget has been stalled in the Legislative Yuan as opposition lawmakers question the amount and procurement items, while the Presidential Office and defense ministry say that the full amount is necessary to safeguard Taiwan. Minister of National Defense Wellington Koo (顧立雄) on Monday briefed the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee on the defense budget for
RSS