'Aids' nurses: Trial postponed
2006-06-20 14:48
Tripoli - The retrial of five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor accused of infecting hundreds of Libyan children with HIV was postponed on Tuesday for a third time to give lawyers more time to prepare evidence.
The retrial, as well as questions over Libya's human rights
record, have been seen as obstacles to improved relations with
the West at a time when Washington is preparing to resume full
diplomatic relations with Tripoli after decades of tension.
Court President Mahmoud Haouissa adjourned proceedings until
July 4 at the request of lead defence lawyer Othman Bizanti, who
said he needed more time to gather documentary evidence. It was
the third postponement since the retrial began in May.
Washington has long backed Bulgaria and the European Union
in saying the medics, in jail in Libya since 1999, are innocent.
The Palestinian doctor, Ashraf Alhajouj, said in a brief
statement to the court: "I need the truth. I am not asking for
mercy. I am innocent."
In December Libya's supreme court overturned the
convictions, which had resulted in sentences of death by firing
squad. The first trial convicted the six of intentionally
infecting 426 Libyan children with the HIV virus when they
worked in a Benghazi hospital.