Bulgaria
Death penalty and prisoners' rights · Archive since 1998
Data card
- Legal status
- Abolitionist
- Executions recorded in 2026
- 0
- Executions recorded in 2025
- 0
- First news item in the archive
- DECEMBER 10, 1998 · On December 10, 1998, by an overwhelming majority,...
- News items in the archive
- 149
Source: Hands Off Cain database, updated to 2026.
Bulgaria is classified as Abolitionist in the Hands Off Cain database, updated to 2026. In 2026 the association recorded 0 executions in the country, against 0 the year before. The archive holds 149 news items on Bulgaria, from 1998 to today.
Latest news
- JANUARY 21, 2006BulgariaDEATH PENALTY
LIBYA. BULGARIA AGREES 4.4 BLN EURO FUND IN HIV CASE
Bulgaria agreed with Libya to set up a 4.4 billion euro ($5.3 billion) fund for families of children infected with HIV in Libya, a Libyan official said. The deal was likely to defuse a standoff over five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor who convi
- JANUARY 12, 2006BulgariaDEATH PENALTY
BULGARIA. BULGARIA WILL NOT PAY COMPENSATION FOR NURSES' FREEDOM, FOREIGN MINISTER
Bulgaria's Foreign Minister Ivaylo Kalfin said that his country would not directly donate money to the international fund for supporting Libya's fight against AIDS.
- JANUARY 11, 2006BulgariaDEATH PENALTY
LIBYA. IF COURT RULES DEATH, MEDICS TO BE EXECUTED, QADDAFI
Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi stated that if a Libyan sentenced to death five Bulgarian medics in a retrial they would be executed.
- JANUARY 5, 2006BulgariaDEATH PENALTY
LIBYA. 'DON'T FORGET US' BEGS JAILED BULGARIAN NURSE IN LIBYA
"Don't forget us," Bulgarian nurse Kristiana Vulcheva who was behind bars accused of infecting Libyan children with the AIDS virus begged during a prison visit by the French foreign minister.
- JANUARY 1, 2006BulgariaDEATH PENALTY
The death penalty for all crimes was abolished on December 10, 1998.
The death penalty for all crimes was abolished on December 10, 1998.
- DECEMBER 28, 2005BulgariaDEATH PENALTY
LIBYA. PARENTS OF AIDS-INFECTED CHILDREN DEMAND 10 MILLION DOLLARS
the families of hundreds of Libyan children infected with the AIDS virus were demanding 10 million dollars for each child in compensation, Bulgarian television reported.
- DECEMBER 25, 2005BulgariaDEATH PENALTY
LIBYA. SUPREME COURT SCRAPS NURSES' HIV DEATH SENTENCES
Libya's Supreme Court scrapped death sentences against five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor and ordered a retrial of the cases which have harmed Tripoli's efforts to build ties with the West.
- DECEMBER 5, 2005BulgariaDEATH PENALTY
ITALY. SENATOR APPEALS TO GOVERNMENT TO URGENTLY UNDERTAKE ACTIONS IN SUPPORT OF BULGARIANS ON DEATH ROW IN LIBYA
Tana de Zulueta, a senator for the Green Party group in Italy's senate, sent a parliamentary request to the Italian Government for urgent actions to help the Bulgarian nurses sentenced to death in Libya. De Zulueta officially asked the Government what mea
- NOVEMBER 29, 2005BulgariaDEATH PENALTY
Libya could quash death sentences
Libya could quash death sentences
- NOVEMBER 16, 2005BulgariaDEATH PENALTY
Tripoli had proposed exchanging Bulgarian nurses
Tripoli had proposed exchanging Bulgarian nurses
- NOVEMBER 11, 2005BulgariaDEATH PENALTY
LIBYA. LIBYA SAYS BULGARIAN NURSES ROW IS NOT POLITICAL
Libya said the row over the Bulgarian nurses sentenced to death for infecting children with the HIV virus was an issue that must be settled legally rather than politically.
- NOVEMBER 10, 2005BulgariaDEATH PENALTY
the son of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi
the son of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi
- NOVEMBER 2, 2005BulgariaDEATH PENALTY
LIBYA. LIBYA DENIES LEGAL DEAL OVER BULGARIAN NURSES
He was reacting to a report by the pan-Arab newspaper Asharq al-Awsat which quoted Arab diplomatic sources as saying Tripoli was likely to annul capital punishment soon as part of a deal to allow the nurses to be released.
- OCTOBER 17, 2005BulgariaDEATH PENALTY
UNITED STATES. BUSH URGES LIBYA TO FREE CONDEMNED BULGARIAN NURSES
President George W. Bush urged Libya to free five Bulgarian nurses sentenced to death on charges of infecting hundreds of Libyan children with the HIV virus.
- OCTOBER 17, 2005BulgariaDEATH PENALTY
LIBYA. TRIPOLI REJECTS US DEMAND TO FREE BULGARIAN NURSES
Libyan Foreign Minister Abdel Rahman Shalgam rejected a call by US President George W. Bush for Tripoli to spare the lives of five Bulgarian nurses sentenced to death in May 2004.
- OCTOBER 8, 2005BulgariaDEATH PENALTY
COUNCIL OF EUROPE. PARLIAMENTARY ASSEMBLY CALLS FOR RELEASE OF BULGARIAN AND PALESTINIAN MEDICS ON DEATH-ROW IN LIBYA
adopting in Strasbourg the report by British Labour MEP Tony Lloyd, the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly urged Libya to release, or at least guarantee a fair trial, to the five Bulgarian nurses and the Palestinian doctor accused of contaminating 4
- SEPTEMBER 30, 2005BulgariaDEATH PENALTY
BULGARIA. BULGARIA SEEKS UN HELP TO FREE NURSES CONDEMNED IN LIBYA
Bulgaria asked the World Health Organization for help in securing the release of five Bulgarian nurses sentenced to death in Libya being convicted of purposely infecting children there with HIV-tainted blood.
- JULY 17, 2005BulgariaDEATH PENALTY
BULGARIA. OUTGOING FOREIGN MINISTER CONDEMNS DEATH PENALTY
Bulgaria's stand is against death penalty, wherever in the world it is being implemented, Foreign Minster Solomon Passy said.
- JUNE 14, 2005BulgariaDEATH PENALTY
LIBYA. FAMILIES OF AIDS VICTIMS REFUSE COMPROMISE ON FATE OF DEATH ROW MEDICS
the families of child victims of an AIDS epidemic in a Libyan hospital refused to consider any compromise concerning the fate of six foreign medics facing death sentences over the tainted blood scandal.
- JUNE 8, 2005BulgariaDEATH PENALTY
EUROPEAN UNION. EU SLAMS LIBYAN RULING ON TORTURE OF CONDEMNED MEDICS
the EU was "seriously concerned" by a Libyan court's acquittal of police officers accused of having tortured six foreign medics facing death sentence over an AIDS-tainted blood scandal, officials said.
- JUNE 7, 2005BulgariaDEATH PENALTY
LIBYA. POLICE CLEARED OF TORTURING BULGARIANS
nine Libyan policemen and a physician were cleared of torturing five Bulgarian nurses to force them to confess to deliberately infecting hundreds of Libyan children with HIV.
- MAY 31, 2005BulgariaDEATH PENALTY
LIBYA. RULING DELAYED IN DEATH SENTENCE AIDS CASE
Libya's high court delayed a ruling on an appeal by six foreign medics sentenced to death for infecting hundreds of children with the AIDS virus. Judge Ali al-Allush said the case involving five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor, who have already
- MAY 29, 2005BulgariaDEATH PENALTY
LIBYA. LIBYA READY TO COMPROMISE ON BULGARIAN MEDICS
the death sentences of the Bulgarian medics in Libya may be revoked if the interested parties manage to reach a consensus, the BBC cited Tripoli's foreign minister Abdel Rahman Mohammed Shalkam as saying after the visit of Bulgarian president Georgi Parva
- MAY 25, 2005BulgariaDEATH PENALTY
EU. ENVOY PRESSES LIBYA OVER DEATH ROW NURSES
Benita Ferrero-Waldner, the European Union's external relations chief, met Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi to press for the release of five nurses from Bulgaria who were facing execution for allegedly infecting hundreds of children with the AIDS virus.
- MAY 15, 2005BulgariaDEATH PENALTY
BULGARIA. PRESIDENT SAYS TO VISIT LIBYA OVER NURSES
Bulgarian President Georgi Parvanov said he planned to visit Libya to discuss the case of five Bulgarian nurses sentenced to death over the infection of hundreds of Libyan children with HIV.
- APRIL 20, 2005BulgariaDEATH PENALTY
Bulgaria was a cosponsor of the resolution on the death penalty at the 61st UN Commission on Human Rights.
Bulgaria was a cosponsor of the resolution on the death penalty at the 61st UN Commission on Human Rights.
- MARCH 26, 2005BulgariaDEATH PENALTY
LIBYA. US TO SEEK RELEASE OF BULGARIAN NURSES
the US promised to do all it could to persuade Libya to free five Bulgarian nurses sentenced to death on charges they injected the virus that causes AIDS into 400 children.
- MARCH 23, 2005BulgariaDEATH PENALTY
LIBYA. BULGARIAN NURSES' LAWYER VOWS TO HAVE DEATH SENTENCES OVERTURNED
Trajan Markovski, the lawyer of five Bulgarian nurses facing the death penalty in Libya for allegedly giving children AIDS-tainted blood, vowed to have their sentences overturned even though Libyan leader Moamer Gaddafi called them "murderers". "Despite a
- MARCH 18, 2005BulgariaDEATH PENALTY
LIBYA. EU BACKS CAMPAIGN TO FREE BULGARIAN NURSES CONDEMNED TO DEATH
a European Union official backed Bulgaria’s attempts to secure the release of five Bulgarian nurses sentenced to death in Libya for the infection of hundreds of children with the AIDS virus.
- MARCH 14, 2005BulgariaDEATH PENALTY
EU. LIBYA URGED TO RELEASE BULGARIAN NURSES
the European Union appealed to Libya to free the five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor condemned to death after being found guilty of infecting 426 children with the HIV virus