A top European Commission official and France's first lady have travelled to Libya to seek the release of six medics convicted of infecting Libyan children with HIV.
EU External Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner and President Nicolas Sarkozy's wife, Cecilia, went to the North African state on Sunday "as part of efforts for the release of the [five] Bulgarian nurses and the Palestinian doctor," the official said.
"The European Commission hopes that this situation, which is so painful and has lasted so long, can be resolved in a humane spirit," the statement said. It gave no further details.
Libya's Higher Judicial Council last week commuted death sentences on the six, accused of deliberately infecting 460 children at Benghazi hospital, to life imprisonment. That opened the way for them to return to their home country under a 1984 prisoner exchange agreement.
Bulgaria and the EU say the nurses are innocent but have provided long-term medical assistance to victims and aid for the Benghazi hospital.
Some EU officials had voiced private exasperation at what they saw as the new French leader seeking credit for the release of the medics at the last minute after Brussels has spent three years patiently negotiating with Tripoli.
Mr Sarkozy is due to visit Libya on Wednesday.