It is truly shameful where a state will not exercise its duty to protect their citizens from unjust taking of their lives.  It is abhorent that a state considers political expediancy more important than the life of any citizen.  Acceptance of this by other citizens may be a reflection that the society of that state are themselves not worthy.

The EU is not the only body responsible for making sure that a travesty does not occur.  The world at large owes it to insure that stated reasons for a capital crime are truly the reasons for conviction and that the evidence rises to minimally acceptable levels. 

I do not agree that "self-responsibility" entails being aware of all unreasonable situations which may come the way of visitors to another culture.  Where it is a humanitarian mission (if this actually was), the host country has a duty to the sponsoring country to provide a higher level of communication and proof in order to justify execution of the sponsoring countries citizens.  It is the sponsoring country who should insist that accountability standards should apply.  Failure to insist, as the EU appears to be doing, is failure to their own citizens and another reason their legitimacy is to be highly questioned.

@ Kapitein

You seem to have me mixed up with "Frank Lee", another commentator (and a valuable one) on this website.

1) I agree with your assertion about the allegiance of Libyan expatriates, at least in a general sense (not necessarily in an individual sense).  But, you have ignored my first point, which was about the 'rule of law'.  If the EU were to follow your 'advice' it would confirm absence of rule of law in the EU itself.

2) Again, I agree with you on EU military capability.  But that was not my second point, which had to do with absence of EU "political will".  But, it would appear that we agree on that too.

3)  The West does NOT "have to" send aid workers to Libya in any legal or political sense.  Those westerners who go out of a sense of moral duty deserve respect for that.  But, when they do, they should realise what they are doing, out of a sense of selfrespect.  They should know that they are leaving the democratic world of 'rule of law' for another world where the 'rule of men' reigns.    

What kind of "reprisals" against Libyans in Europe are you proposing?  Violating their individual liberties because the Libyan regime doesn't respect those of others in Libya?  Wouldn't that confirm that there is neither 'rule of law' in Libya nor in the EU?

I would argue that Libyan expatriates in Europe have more allegiance to their ancestral homeland and Islam than to the states in which they currently reside.

The EU would "launch military reprisals" against Lybia!!?  Perhaps you meant to say NATO, or the Brits, or the French?  Are we still on the same planet?  'Provisional reconstruction teams', perhaps, in relatively 'safe' or pacified areas?   And, I thought that the EU had outlawed 'war' for ever, in favor of dhimmitude.

The European Union may not have the willingness, but it does have the capability. Military spending by EU member states is just under half of US military spending; were the EU to expand to include the Russian Federation and those other European states (not Turkiye) which are not members, its military spending would be half. Indeed, to maintain the current levels of personnel in Russia, and even new member states such as Poland, but at Western European or NATO standards, would require a surge in spending past the 50% mark. Of course, as you've noted, Brussels and Strasbourg would rather have armies of Muslim and Black gangs walking their city streets than an army of their own.

3) But, you do have a valid point about the self-responsibility of those who go to work or travel in places where 'rule of man' reigns.  They always run the serious risk that genuine 'rule of law' will not be applied to them.

Yes. Although I hold the Libyan government responsible for the West having to send aid workers their in the first place, I generally believe that states should not engage in war over a tourist who breaks the law unwittingly or not f.e. in the Romantic states, the legal system places the onus on the accused, in contrast to Anglo-American policy.

I'm waiting for a European reader to suggest that the American military should intervene in Libya -- or, rather, that the American government, by not intervening, is in effect "sponsoring" the Libyan regime and is therefore responsible for the problems in Libya.

@ Kapitein

1) What kind of "reprisals" against Libyans in Europe are you proposing?  Violating their individual liberties because the Libyan regime doesn't respect those of others in Libya?  Wouldn't that confirm that there is neither 'rule of law' in Libya nor in the EU?

2) The EU would "launch military reprisals" against Lybia!!?  Perhaps you meant to say NATO, or the Brits, or the French?  Are we still on the same planet?  'Provisional reconstruction teams', perhaps, in relatively 'safe' or pacified areas?   And, I thought that the EU had outlawed 'war' for ever, in favor of dhimmitude. 

3) But, you do have a valid point about the selfresponsibility of those who go to work or travel in places where 'rule of man' reigns.  They always run the serious risk that genuine 'rule of law' will not be applied to them.

While I am against the entire trial and sentence of the Bulgarian nurses, I have to concede that by conducting their work in Libya, in spite of their intentions, they put themselves at the mercy of the Libyan state. They do need to take responsibility for their own self-preservation as it is suicide for everyone to be concerned with everyone else's lives and not their own. However, so long as the European Union and Bulgaria have relations with Libya that can be used to rescue these nurses, these should be utilized to the utmost for that purpose.

Furthermore, in light of the involvement of Libyans in Europe and the United States participating in and conspiring to commit acts of war, the EU should in fact threaten to: (a) launch reprisals against Libyans in Europe, or (b) launch military reprisals against Libya itself if the nurses are executed.

Europe is like an old whore  flattering  her lovers who  despise her.