The EU chief executive reiterated a call to Libya to...

The EU chief executive reiterated a call to Libya to release five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor it has sentenced to death for allegedly infecting hundreds of children with the virus that causes AIDS.
Bulgarian state TV quoted European Commission President Romano Prodi as saying the EU "has a clear position on the trial and won't back away from it."
He made his remarks after discussing the issue with Bulgarian Foreign Minister Solomon Passy in Brussels, who then flew to the Libyan capital of Tripoli.
A court in the northeastern Libyan city of Benghazi on May 6 sentenced to death by firing squad the nurses and the doctor on charges of intentionally injecting blood contaminated with the HIV virus to 426 children at a local hospital. The medics are appealing before a higher court in Tripoli. A verdict is not expected for at least two months.
The European Union denounced the death sentences, saying with testimony by top international AIDS experts exonerated the medics from responsibility for the contagion.
The TV quoted Prodi as saying the verdict was not backed by any solid evidence.He said he wrote to [Libyan leader Muammar ] Gadhafi making it clear that Libya's efforts to restore its relations with the EU would depend on the outcome of the medics' case, the report said. Gadhafi is trying to overcome his regime's long international isolation caused by his support for international terrorism.
"We work together with Bulgaria to find a humanitarian solution to this tragic problem," Prodi said.