Nurse Freed From Libyan Death Sentence At EU

"Do not lose hope!" says Bulgarian nurse freed from Libyan death sentence

Members of the European Parliament stood and applauded yesterday in tribute to a group of Bulgarian medics in the public gallery. The 5 Bulgarian medics and 1 Palestinian doctor had until recently been on death row in Libya falsely accused of infecting children with the AIDS virus in Benghazi hospital.

The group had been jailed in Libya for over eight years prior to their release in July. One of the group - Kristiana Valcheva - has recently written a book "Head Up". She spoke to us about her imprisonment and liberation.

Kristiana Valcheva is now 48. She first arrived in Libya with her husband in 1991. In 1999 she was working at the Hauari hospital in Benghazi when they were arrested over the outbreak of AIDS there. He husband was later released but stayed on at the Bulgarian embassy to be close to her.

The international campaign to clear the medics has always emphasised that they had been made scapegoats for the failures of the Libyan health system. They were in Parliament on 10 October - a day designated by the Council of Europe as international day against the death penalty.

"Dictatorial regime with terrorist manners imprisoned us"

We began by asking her what she had discussed when she met Parliament's President Hans-Gert Pöttering.

Kristiana Valcheva: I thanked him for the solidarity Europe has shown to us. Success can be reached when people cooperate. He explained to us the steps the Parliament has taken, and assured us that everybody is happy that the events took a good turn eventually. For us it was very precious and emotional to hear, that the European Parliament stands up against the death penalty everywhere in the world. We were innocent. A dictatorial regime with terrorist manners imprisoned us for more than eight years and wanted to take our lives.

Question: What role did the EU play in your liberation?

Kristiana Valcheva:: The European Union played an enormous role in our liberation. Without it, we would not be free today. I have personally told Mr Pöttering that we are grateful for all the efforts of the European Parliament. All the time people here were aware of our situation. But at the same, it took the European Union a long time to react. Meanwhile, every single day of our life in the Libyan prison was full of suffering.

For the sake of the victims, I would wish that if such cases should happen again in the future, a response would come earlier. Of course, it is even better to prevent such cases from happening in the first place.

"Everything can be mended"

Question: What is the main message of your book? ("J´ai gardé la tête haute" in its original French)

Kristiana Valcheva:: The main message is that no matter how difficult, terrible, inevitable and hopeless a situation might be, there are always things which can return faith and hope. Everything can be mended as long as you stay alive. I believe that there are many people who were or still are in a situation like me. To them I would like to say "Do not lose hope!"

Question: You have said that "hope dies last". How do you maintain hope and how is your life today?

Kristiana Valcheva:: There is always hope to be found. I am an optimistic person, I always look for it. I believe that I got this from my mother, who is a proud and strong woman. During all these years it was my faith in divine justice, which kept me going.

Now that I am free, I am sure that my life will go well. There are many things I missed during these eight and a half years. Now I want to catch up with all of them.

ENDS

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