A Libyan court Tuesday sentenced the foreign medics to death after finding them guilty of deliberately infecting more than 400 children with the deadly HIV virus in a Benghazi hospital in the late 1990s.
"We are appealing to the Libyan leadership to show mercy, and to solve the problem through satisfactory means, obviously through court procedures," the minister said.
He urged Libya to spare the lives of the medics.
"The verdict is contentious, and we share the opinion of those who consider it callous, and believe that it does not take into account certain factors presented at the court hearings," Lavrov said.
The six medics were originally sentenced by a Libyan court to death by firing squad in 2004 but appealed the verdict, stating they were not guilty and were forced to confess their alleged crime under torture by Libyan police.
The country's Supreme Court quashed the sentence December 25, 2005, and ordered a re-trial of the "Benghazi Six," as the defendants have been dubbed in the Western media. The new trial began in Tripoli on May 11, 2006 and lasted until November 4, when the prosecution rebutted the defense's arguments.
The international community and foreign medical authorities have long been critical of the convictions, arguing that the HIV infections were caused by poor hygiene at the children's hospital prior to the medics' arrival in Libya. They said the "Benghazi Six" were scapegoats being used by the Libyan leadership as a bargaining chip to extort large payouts from the West.
Following today's announcement, Bulgaria, which has been aggressively lobbying for the release of its nurses, appealed to the international community for a strong response to a verdict that it deems "unfair and absurd."
But the families of the 426 infected children, 50 of whom have died from AIDS, cheered the court's decision, claiming the medics used the victims to conduct experiments in their search for an AIDS cure.
A lawyer for the "Benghazi Six" said the defense will appeal the verdict with Libya's Supreme Court.
