FOREIGN Minister Solomon Passi said at the weekend that he did not expect political influence in the court's decision in the case against the Bulgarian medics in Libya. Passi made the statement in connection with the most recent official position of the Qaddafi Foundation for Charity Associations on the case.

The foundation is headed by Seif Al-Islam, son of Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi. At the end of last week Bulgarian National Radio (BNR) reported that the Qaddafi foundation had issued a statement regarding the case against the Bulgarian medics, who allegedly infected 393 Libyan children with HIV. Al-Islam agreed to become an observer of the trial in 2001.

According to the statement, the foundation believes that the lack of sufficient evidence against the Bulgarians will incline the decision in favour of their innocence.

Passi, however, said the Foreign Ministry had not yet received the official text of the statement from the Libyan embassy and thus could not give an official statement. "I am grateful to the foundation for its efforts," Passi said. "During this year and a half it has been faithfully fulfilling its commitments to the case." Earlier this month the Qaddafi foundation sent another letter to Passi, which stirred hopes in Bulgaria.

On the eve of the conflict in Iraq and against the background of the contradictory positions of the Presidency and the Government on the crisis, Al-Islam's letter hinted that the Libyan court might consider the Bulgarian position on Iraq when deciding the fate of the medics. Passi was then on a visit in Japan and refused to comment on the letter.

Government spokesperson Dimitar Tsonev, however, denied the allegations of a possible connection between the Bulgarian position on Iraq and the decision of the court on the case. According to Tsonev, the translation of the letter, leaked to the media had been incorrect.

"Before we define our categorical position on the letter, we must have a correct translation," he said.

The letter, however, provoked a reaction from President Georgi Purvanov who said that the Government's stance on Iraq was creating tension between Bulgaria and Arab countries and might jeopardise the fate of the Bulgarian medics in Libya. Right-wing opposition leader Nadezhda Mihailova said that this letter indicated that the trial against the Bulgarians was political.