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Libya accused Bulgaria Thursday of violating an agreement between the two countries by pardoning six medical workers convicted of intentionally infecting hundreds of Libyan children with HIV.

Libya's formal protest came a day after the HIV victims' families condemned Bulgaria's "recklessness" and called on Tripoli to cut ties with Sofia and deport Bulgarian nationals. They also demanded the medics be re-arrested by Interpol.

"The pardon granted to the medics by the Bulgarian authorities is a clear violation of the agreement reached on July 23," said an official in Tripoli who wished not to be named.

After more than eight years in jail, the five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor who recently took Bulgarian citizenship were freed on Tuesday under a cooperation accord between Tripoli and the European Union.

Bulgarian President Georgi Parvanov pardoned them upon their arrival in Sofia. The EU newcomer and its allies in Brussels and Washington say the medics are innocent and point to evidence the epidemic began before they started working in Libya in 1998.

Bulgaria's Foreign Ministry said it had received a formal protest note on Wednesday in which Libya said it had not complied with a 1984 extradition treaty.

Prime Minister Sergei Stanishev said the foreign ministry would reply to Tripoli later today. Bulgaria had not breached the agreement, he said.

"It is understandable that Libya is reacting under existing pressure from the families of the infected children ... Bulgaria's decision (to pardon the medics) is motivated and fair," state news agency BTA quoted Stanishev as saying.

Kader Abderrahim, a North Africa geopolitics specialist at Paris-based think-tank IRIS, agreed. "I think this protest is aimed at an internal audience," he said. "When the families discovered the state of the hospital, its hygiene... there were very violent demonstrations in the city before public opinion focused instead on the nurses."

A diplomatic source said Libya had intended the medics to serve their remaining sentences after their transfer and referred to an article in the prisoner exchange agreement to that effect.

Jailed since 1999, the six were twice condemned to death. Last week Libya commuted the sentences to life in prison after the 460 HIV victims' families were paid US$1 million each in a settlement financed by an international fund.

Bulgaria's chief prosecutor Boris Velchev said the pardon was legal. "There is also an article that says once prisoners are transferred, they are treated under the host country's legislation. The pardon has been legally done. There are no legal problems," Velchev said.

The medics have always said they were innocent and they were tortured to confess. The Palestinian doctor, Ashraf Alhajouj, told reporters he was not angry about the Libyan protests.

"Let them do whatever they want ... The families of the children are victims just like us, just like our mothers," said Alhajouj, 38, who is staying with the other medics at a government residential complex on the outskirts of Sofia.

(China Daily via agencies July 27, 2007)