A Libyan court sentenced six Bulgarian medics and a Palestinian doctor to death by firing squad for deliberately infecting hundreds of Libyan children with the deadly HIV virus.
The health workers, detained in Tripoli in early 1999, were convicted of giving 426 Libyan children at a Benghazi hospital HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, with contaminated blood products.
The verdicts may be appealed, Bulgarian national radio said in Sofia. More than 40 of the children have died since 1990.
The issue has gained greater attention in recent weeks as Libya emerges from international isolation after scrapping its nuclear arms programme in December.
The dispute with EU candidate Bulgaria was raised during Libyan leader Col Muammar Gadafy's ground-breaking visit to the European Union last week. European Commission President Romano Prodi said he hoped a "quick and fair settlement" could be found.
Bulgarian media had speculated that if the Bulgarians were sentenced to death, Col Gadafy might pardon them as part of his efforts to improve relations with Europe.