Six foreign medics who were jailed for life in Libya for infecting over 400 children with HIV have returned home to Bulgaria.

The five nurses and a doctor have been in prison for eight years. An agreement reached with the European Union allowed them to serve the remainder of their sentence in their home country.

The were initially sentenced to death.

Russia along with other countries condemned the actions of the Libyan authorities.

After the victims' families received a $US 460 MLN settlement, the death penalty was changed to life imprisonment.

And after the EU agreed to provide medical aid to affected families the medics were allowed to leave Libya for home.

France's First Lady Cecilia Sarkozy and a top European Commission official flew to Libya on Sunday to secure the release of the five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor.

The Bulgarian President has pardoned the medics upon their return.