By Virginia Savova
Sofia, Bulgaria
The case generated a national solidarity campaign in Bulgaria
TV and radio stations interrupted their programmes to broadcast the announcement of Libya's Judicial Council.
"Is this the good news we expected?" asked journalists, wondering whether the final outcome of the case of the medics will depend on new developments in the Lockerbie bombing case.
Bulgarian Foreign Minister Ivailo Kalfin promised Bulgaria would speed up as much as possible its efforts to bring home the medics under a prisoner transfer agreement between the two countries.
"This case will be over when our fellow countrymen return home," he said, adding that the Bulgarian authorities continued to be in contact with their European partners on the case.
Solomon Pasi, former Bulgarian foreign minister, looked at Libya's Judicial Council decision as a stage in the negotiations between Bulgaria, Libya, the EU and the US.
"The announcement should not be dramatised and taken emotionally," he said.
One of the defendants' attorneys, Harry Haralambiev, was not satisfied with the news.
He explained that if the medics were transferred to Bulgaria, there was a possibility of Bulgarian President Georgi Parvanov pardoning them.
Relatives react
The first relative to comment on the news was Dr Zdravko Georgiev, husband of nurse Kristina Valcheva, who was one of the defendants in the same trial. In 2004, he was released from jail but has not been allowed to leave Libya.
TRIAL IN DATES 1999: 19 Bulgarian medics and a Palestinian doctor are arrested at a Benghazi hospital after an outbreak of HIV/Aids among children. 13 are later freed May 2004: Libya convicts and sentences five Bulgarian nurses and the Palestinian doctor for infecting children with HIV. A Bulgarian doctor is freed Dec 2005: Libyan Supreme Court overturns the convictions and orders a retrial Dec 2006: Medics sentenced to death a second time Feb 2007: Medics appeal to the Libyan Supreme Court June 2007: Top EU officials hold talks in Libya to try to secure medics' release 11 July 2007: Libya's Supreme Court upholds death sentences
Profile of the medics Timeline: Medics trial
"We had a choice between the bad news and the less bad news, and today we heard the less bad news - their lives are saved," he said.
Antoaneta Uzunova, daughter of nurse Valya Cherveniashka is angry with the Bulgarian authorities.
"I want to ask Prime Minister Stanishev what Bulgaria will do now to free my mother, who is innocent," she said.
"The families of the HIV-infected Libyan children took the compensation and we lost a very strong trump."
The only relative who was smiling was Zorka Anachkova, mother of nurse Kristina Valcheva.
She only wants her daughter to return home and considers Tripoli's announcement as a step closer to achieving that.
"I am satisfied," she said.
"They [the Libyan authorities] have no reason to keep them any more. I am waiting for the medics to return."
'You are not alone'
Throughout the eight years in prison the sentenced medics have had the strong support of the Bulgarian people, who believe in their innocence.
Please, Lord forbid this insanity. Eight years of torment and trial. Please let our sisters be home again. Home in Bulgaria
Prayer for the nurses
The calls for their liberation became organised at the end of 2006 when a Bulgarian newspaper, a television and a radio station launched a nationwide campaign under the slogan "You are not alone".
A ribbon with the colours of the Bulgarian national flag - white, green and red - and bearing the slogan in Bulgarian and English became the symbol of the campaign.
Thousands of Bulgarians put it on the lapels of their jackets.
The ribbon could be seen on posters, in shop windows, on planes of Bulgarian airline companies and on car stickers.
Although the campaign was criticised for being launched too late, it gathered momentum and became international. Around one million people worldwide signed the petition for the medics to be freed.
Over 100,000 signatures were collected in Sofia alone during a religious event.
One prayer said on the day was:
"Please, Lord forbid this insanity. Eight years of torment and trial. Please let our sisters be home again. Home in Bulgaria."
The petition was handed to EU officials in Brussels in June by relatives of the condemned medics.
A 20-metre long poster with the word "innocent" was placed in the centre of Sofia. Messages of public support have been added to the poster.
It will be later sent to Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi.
Last week, Libya lifted the death sentence for five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinean doctor in the case about the HIV infection of hundreds of Libyan children. The deal called for a US$460 million settlement for the families of the children.

However, now Libya is holding out for a better deal. According to reports, Libya is seeking more money for the treatment of the children, as well as normalized relations with the European Union. Another sticking point in making a deal has been that Bulgaria and the EU are unwilling to strike any deal that admits the guilt of the medics, whose innocence they insist upon.
Ivaylo Kalfin
Bulgarian Foreign Minister Ivailo Kalfin spoke to reporters in Brussels. "We are at the stage now where the decision is purely political," he said. "I hope there will be enough will from the Libyans' side today in order to finalise talks ... If they show this will, then the transfer can be done very quickly."

"Allow me not to go into any details because that would make all the efforts that are being made in Libya right now meaningless," Kalfin was quoted to have said later in the day, according to Bulgarian national television.