Geoffrey van Orden, Member of the European Parliament (EP) and EP Rapporteur on Bulgaria, called on Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi to pardon the Bulgarian nurses, sentenced to death, at a joint news conference with the co-chairs of the EU-Bulgaria Joint Parliamentary Committee Atanas Paparizov and Catherine Guy-Quint.

The news conference took place on 2 January 2007, "Zapad" Hall of the National Assembly.

"The court trial in Libya is not entirely over, but I call on President Gaddafi to exercise his powers and to release the Bulgarian nurses and the Palestinian doctor as soon as possible," Van Orden said.