The case dates back to Feb 1999, when 19 foreign medics were detained after an investigation into how children at a hospital in Benghazi, LIbya, became infected with HIV. Thirteen were later freed.

Sept 2003: A French doctor testifies the epidemic broke out a year before the arrival of the Bulgarians.

May 6, 2004: The five Bulgarian nurses — Nasya Nenova, Snezhana Dimitrova, Valentina Siropolu, Christiana Valcheva and Vania Cherveniashka — and the Palestinian doctor, Ashraf Alhajouj, are sentenced to death for deliberately infecting the children.

Dec 25, 2005: The Supreme Court overturns the death sentences, sends case back to a lower court for retrial.

Jan 21, 2006: Victims’ families demand total of $5.9 billion to settle the case.

Dec 6, 2006: International scientists, who rebuilt history of virus from samples from the children, show the HIV subtype began infecting patients before the foreign medics arrived.

Dec 19, 2006: After a seven-month retrial, the six medics are again found guilty and sentenced to death.

July 17, 2007: Libya commutes the death sentences to life imprisonment. The ruling followed a financial payout of $1 million each to 460 HIV victims’ families.

The deal

• Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi’s rapprochement with the West likely to be advanced. Still trying to shake off the effects of years of sanctions, Libya wants friendlier foreign ties to bolster its quest for outside investment and expertise to help diversify an import-dependent economy built on oil and gas.

• ”There was a cooperation agreement signed between Libya and the EU to develop and expand cooperation between them, which includes full cooperation and partnership between Libya and the EU,” said Libyan Foreign Minister Mohammed Abdel-Rahman Shalgam.