International Reactions The trials have been condemned by The European Union it s individual member nations and The United States Medical experts and scientists also disputed the convictions United States Senator Richard Lugar chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee vowed to work for the release of the accused novinite On September 19 Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov vowed to work for the release of the medics on his trip to Libya in November novinite U S President George W Bush has said I want them free One of Gaddafi s sons has admitted at least some Libyan responsibility On December 24 2005 it was announced that Libya Bulgaria the EU and the US had agreed on a fund which may help to resolve the matter Reuters Yahoo In response to the risk of a new death penalty verdict in the current trial international opinion has again began to mobilize In October 2006 several scientific organizations responded with appeals and The New York Times NY Times and the journal Nature Nature published strong editorials calling for a fair trial Quid pro quo Although he concurred with the guilty verdict Gaddafi proposed releasing the six medics if quid pro quo the convicted Pan Am Flight 103 bomber Megrahi serving a life sentence in a Scottish jail were to be released and US 2 7 billion compensation were paid to Libya for the care of the HIV infected patients the exact sum offered by Libya in compensation for the 270 lives lost in the 1988 Lockerbie bombing Bulgaria refused to pay any compensation on the grounds that it would be admitting the guilt of the medics On June 7 2005 the European Union engaged in negotiations to provide assistance to Libya but not directly linked to the case of the six medics On August 18 2005 Libya recommended that Bulgaria should negotiate on the amount of the payment The next week the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly PACE delegate visited Libya and saw the medics On August 31 Bulgarian Foreign Minister Ivaylo Kalfin stated that Bulgaria would send humanitarian aid while not acknowledging the guilt of the medics On September 8 it was announced that Libya had prepared a list of 40 items non monetary that should be sent as aid and that Bulgaria could supply 24 of them Relief and protests over first reprieve On December 25 2005 Libya s supreme court overturned death sentences against the Benghazi Six who had always denied intentionally infecting 426 children with HIV contaminated blood Bulgarian president Georgi Parvanov said the court ruling confirmed our hope that justice in this case will prevail President Parvanov added The unfair death sentences were reversed We hope that the swiftness and the effectiveness demonstrated by the Libyan court in the past days will help solve the case as soon as possible US State Department spokesman Justin Higgins described the decision as a positive development since it removes the risk of the death penalty being carried out As we have made clear before we believe a way should be found to allow the medics to return to their home The Council of Europe welcomed the decision and said it hoped the new trial will comply with the internationally recognised standards of fairnes