Brussels, 19/12/2006 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission and the Finnish Presidency have condemned the verdict of a Libyan court on Tuesday, sentencing five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor to death, for having deliberately injected children with the AIDS virus. “The Commission cannot accept this verdict,” said the spokesman for José Manuel Barroso, who expressed his shock. The Commission and Council of the EU reiterated their “serious concerns” with regard to the basis on which the decision was based, and the treatment of the prisoners over seven years. A previous judgment, delivered two years ago, was annulled by the Supreme Court, which ordered a new trial in this case which dates from the end of the 1990s. In a statement, which the Commission supported, the Finnish Presidency hoped that the appeals procedure would “enable a just, equitable and humanitarian, solution”. Many observers say that experts' reports which demonstrate the innocence of the accused were not taken into account. Commission Vice-President, Franco Frattini, said that this decision was an “obstacle” to cooperation between the EU and Libya. It was a “dangerous gesture”, “a negative message not only for Bulgarians, but also for the EU,” he said, calling on Libya to review the case and examine “every possibility for annulling the decision”. Bulgarian foreign minister, Ivailo Kalfin, said the verdict was “deeply disappointing”, and the Leader of the Bulgarian Parliament Guéorgui Pirinski called on Libya to stop the sentence being carried out. “Such sentences cannot and must not be carried out,” he stressed. (ab)