Bulgaria confirms U.S. request to accept Guantanamo inmates

SOFIA, Dec. 12 -- Bulgaria's deputy prime minister and interior minister has confirmed that Bulgaria and the U.S. have discussed accepting former Guantanamo Bay prisoners, according to media reports.

Tsvetan Tsvetanov said the issue would be discussed in several parliamentary committees.

U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said last week that 116 of 211 Guantanamo prisoners still being held may be transferred to other countries.

The local news website "mediapool.bg" reported Friday that Daniel Fried, a special envoy for U.S. President Barack Obama, asked Bulgaria in a letter to accept three Guantanamo prisoners.

Fried said in the Dec. 7 letter that the relocation of the remaining Guantanamo inmates was critical for the realization of Obama's plan to close the infamous prison in Cuba, mediapool.bg reported.

The letter to Prime Minister Boiko Borisov came after Fried's visit to Bulgaria on Dec. 2-3.

Fried was also reported to have met with Tsvetanov and to have discussed the Guantanamo issue with him.

Thomas Hammarberg, the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, has called on European states to accept about 50 Guantanamo prisoners. France, Italy, and Belgium have already expressed willingness to help out the Americans.

Bulgaria's former government led Prime Minister Sergei Stanishev was previously asked by the U.S. to take Guantanamo inmates but turned down the request, according to mediapool.