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Bulgarians on trial in Libya
18/06/2001 07:43 - (SA)
Sofia - A court in Libya is on September 22 to hand down its verdict against six Bulgarians facing death for allegedly deliberately
infecting Libyan children with HIV, Bulgarian state television
reported on Sunday.
The trial in the Libyan capital Tripoli continued on Sunday with the accused's lawyer, Othmane al-Bizanthi, rejected the charges and claimed the six had been "violently ill-treated" in custody.
The group - five Bulgarian nurses and a doctor - are accused along with a Palestinian doctor of deliberately injecting 393
children in their care with blood products infected with HIV, the
precursor to Aids, in a hospital in the northern Libyan city of
Benghazi.
Twenty-three children are reported to have died already.
The accused are charged with "premeditated murder with the aim of
undermining Libyan security" while eight Libyan doctors are also
facing charges of negligence.
They have all pleaded not guilty.
The prosecutor called on Saturday for the death penalty to be applied
against the Bulgarians and the Palestinian.
But Bizanthi argued on Sunday that the HIV infections were caused by
"poor hygiene in the hospital, where syringes are used over and
over again by the Libyan staff."
In Bulgaria, former king Simeon II, whose political movement had
apparently wrested power in general elections on Sunday, said of the
trial: "It's very, very serious. Let's hope it's not definitive."
His concern was echoed by Bulgarian President Petar Stoyanov, who
said he hoped that "the most serious charges are lifted."
- Sapa-AFP
- SAPA
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