Bulgarian Foreign Minister Solomon Passy expressed the hope that...

Bulgarian Foreign Minister Solomon Passy expressed the hope that five Bulgarian nurses, sentenced to death in Libya, would return home in 2005. 
"Together with the international community, our partners of the EU and the US, we hope for a fair resolution of the case of our compatriots and hope that 2005 will be the year of their homecoming," Passy said, addressing a traditional New Year reception for the foreign ambassadors accredited to Bulgaria. The Foreign Minister described the case against the Bulgarian medical professionals in Libya as "the most painful issue affecting Bulgarian foreign policy." The five nurses were sentenced to death on May 6, 2004 by the Benghazi Criminal Court after two of them were tortured into confessing to infecting Libyan children with HIV. The sentences were being appealed before the Libyan Supreme Court.