Five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor were pardoned by President Georgi Parvanov upon their arrival in Sofia on Tuesday after spending eight-and-a-half years in prison in Libya.

Bulgarian nurse Valya Cherveniashka celebrates with a relative.

The medics, who were sentenced to life in prison for contaminating children with the AIDS virus but now maintain their innocence, arrived on board a French presidential plane after the EU agreed a deal with Libya on medical aid and political ties.

The round of negotiations that freed the medics began over the weekend and involved European Union commissioner for foreign affairs, Benita Ferrero-Waldner, chief French presidential aide Claude Gueant and French first lady Cecilia Sarkozy.

The group, accompanied from Libya by Cecilia Sarkozy, was immediately greeted by a delegation of government officials and family members.

"I waited so long for this moment," nurse Snezhana Dimitrova said before falling into the arms of her loved ones, The Associated Press reported.

"I know I am free, I know I am on Bulgarian soil, but I still cannot believe it," 48-year-old nurse Christiana Valcheva told Reuters as the medics and their families wept and hugged each other at the airport.

"This is the result of very tough and long negotiations ... between the European Union and Libyan authorities," Bulgarian Foreign Minister Ivailo Kalfin said. "It has been a long discussion and debate with Libya until we reached this agreement."

According to Kalfin, the deal includes treatments for infected children and humanitarian assistance for their parents. Tripoli and the EU were also to begin discussions on the normalization of political relations.

Kalfin said medical checkups would be the first order of business after the group was welcomed in Sofia.

The nurses and doctor were twice sentenced to death for allegedly infecting more than 400 Libyan children with the virus that causes AIDS. Fifty of the children were reported to have died.

Last week the six medics had their sentences commuted to life in prison, following a $1 million per family payout to each family.

At one point, the nurses all confessed to the crimes, but later said they were coerced into making those confessions.

The children were infected through transfusions. During the trial of the nurses, a French scientist testified that poor hygiene at the hospital likely led to the contamination of the blood used in the transfusions.

He said the contamination dated to 1997 -- two years before the Bulgarians were hired to work in Libya.

European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said Tuesday the EU could now move to normalize trade and political ties with Libya, AP reported.

"We hope to go on further normalizing our relations with Libya, our relations with Libya were in a large extent blocked by the non-settlement of this medics issue," Barroso told reporters. He said the 27-nation bloc could move to include Libya in regional trade and aid ties with other Mediterranean countries.

Meanwhile, French President Nicolas Sarkozy said Tuesday he would visit Libya following the release of the six. "I will have the chance tomorrow, with Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner, to make a political visit to Libya to help Libya to reintegrate the concert of nations."

Aides had said France linked Wednesday's trip to Libya with the release beforehand of the five Bulgarian nurses and Palestinian doctor. CNN.com