Letter to Bill Graham

[bgmontreal]

The Honourable Bill Graham, P.C., Q.C, M.P.
Minister of Foreign Affairs
Lester B. Pearson Building
125 Sussex Drive
Tower A, 10th Floor
Ottawa, ON
K1A 0G2


Dear Mr. Graham,

On behalf of all Canadians of Bulgarian origin, one of the fastest growing ethnic communities in Canada, the Committee for Salvation of the Bulgarian Medics in Libya wishes to express our deepest concern for the fate of the five Bulgarian nurses and one Palestinian physician, imprisoned in Benghazi, Libya since 1999 and sentenced to death a few days ago. We urgently request your attention and assistance in speaking out against this grave injustice.

The charges against the six medics are absurdly fictitious, and the international media has recognized the unfair trial and sentencing as a scandalous abuse of human rights. The condemned nurses Kristiana Vulcheva, Nasya Nenova, Valentina Siropulo, Valya Chervenyashka, Snezhana Dimitrova, and the Palestinian doctor Ashraf Ahmad Jum'a were accused of having caused the death of 40 children and of infecting almost 400 others with HIV. In spite of the testimonies of expert witnesses including Professor Luc Montagnier, member of the team which discovered the Aids virus, who stated that the epidemic was caused by the poor hygiene at the hospital, and had begun before any of the accused had started work there, and in spite of their own repeated declarations of innocence, the health workers have been kept imprisoned for the past five years and tortured by the police with daily beatings, sexual assault and electric shocks.

The case was dismissed several times for lack of evidence, but the prosecution continued to refile the charges in an attempt to divert attention from the poor conditions in Libya's state-run hospitals, as has been established during the trial. Prosecuted on ridiculous charges of international conspiracy to commit terrorism on orders from the CIA and the Israeli secret service, Mossad, and denied a fair trial, the accusations against the medics culminated on Thursday, May 6th 2004, with a death sentence by firing squad.

Mr. Graham, as citizens of Canada we call on you to urgently intervene in order to secure a just solution, to stop this horrible abuse of human rights, and to help establish the innocence of these unjustly accused people. We earnestly hope that you will take this petition to heart, and will do everything in your power as Minister of Foreign Affairs to help bring justice to this case by asserting the democratic values our great country stands for.

We eagerly await your response to our concerns, and will support you in every way possible.

Respectfully,

Committee for Salvation of the Bulgarian Medics in Libya