This is a piece of news that’s not outsourcing-related. Since it made CNN’s frontpage, however, it’s impossible to ignore.
Five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor were pardoned by President Georgi Parvanov upon their arrival in Sofia on Tuesday after spending eight-and-a-half years in prison in Libya.
The six medics, who were sentenced to life in prison for allegedly contaminating children with the AIDS virus, arrived on board a French presidential plane with French first lady Cecilia Sarkozy and the EU’s commissioner for foreign affairs, Benita Ferrero-Waldner.
The group was immediately greeted by a delegation of government officials and family members.
“I waited so long for this moment,” nurse Snezhana Dimitrova said before falling into the arms of her loved ones, The Associated Press reported.
“This is the result of very tough and long negotiations … between the European Union and Libyan authorities,” Bulgarian Foreign Minister Ivailo Kalfin said. “It has been a long discussion and debate with Libya until we reached this agreement.”