The six Bulgarian medics, five nurses and a doctor, arrived in Bulgaria and received a pardon from Bulgarian President Georgi Parvanov.

The six were convicted in Libya of deliberately infecting children with HIV and they spent eight years in Libyan custody, although they always maintained their innocence.

According to experts the AIDS outbreak at the Benghazi children's hospital had been caused by bad hygiene.

The medics arrived on board a plane with French first lady Cecilia Sarkozy and the EU's commissioner for foreign affairs, Benita Ferrero-Waldner and were greeted by emotional scenes in the Bulgarian capital Sofia on Tuesday after departing Libya.

After their arrival, Bulgarian Foreign Minister Ivailo Kalfin announced the medics that President Parvanov had signed a decree to pardon the five nurses and the Palestinian doctor, who was granted Bulgarian citizenship in June.

"Led by the firm conviction in the innocence of the Bulgarian citizens sentenced in Libya and fulfilling his constitutional rights, the president signed a decree for pardon and releases them of their sentences," Kalfin said.

The French President Nicolas Sarkozy and Benita Ferrero-Waldner had been negotiating the extradition of the six, after their death sentences were commuted to life.

 "The return of the medics is a direct result of Bulgaria's membership in the European Union, of the solidarity which the EU showed Bulgaria," Prime Minister Sergei Stanishev said at the airport.

Libyan media reported Tuesday that President Sarkozy will meet with Libyan head of state Colonel Moamer Gaddafi in the city of Sirte Wednesday. Sarkozy made the departure of the Bulgarian medics a condition of his trip, according to local media.

Although the media is speculating that EU and France have paid Libya to release the six medics, President Sarkozy strongly denied the rumors.

"I can quite simply confirm to you that neither Europe nor France have made the slightest financial contribution to Libya," he told a news conference in Paris.

On the other hand Libya said it had ordered their release after it was satisfied the conditions it laid down for extradition had been met.

"The matter has been settled. We received guarantees for the normalisation of relations with European countries and for a partnership agreement with the European Union," a Libyan official told AFP.