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Bulgarians up for HIV in Libya
27/08/2002 00:34 - (SA)
Sofia - A Libyan court ruled on Monday that six Bulgarian medical
workers accused of spreading Aids in Libya must face a criminal
trial, Bulgarian Foreign Minister Solomon Passi announced.
On June 3 a Libyan court charged the Bulgarians - five nurses
and one doctor - and a Palestinian doctor with "provoking an Aids
epidemic through the use of contaminated products".
It alleged 393 children had been infected with the HIV virus when they were given tainted blood products in a hospital in Benghazi, northern Libya.
If found guilty the accused could face the death penalty.
The seven were initially charged with "premeditated murder with
the intention of undermining the Libyan state", which could also
have resulted in the death penalty, but that charge was dropped
because of lack of evidence.
The Bulgarians, who were arrested in 1998, are also accused of
illegally distilling alcohol, having sex outside marriage and
trading currency on the black market.
The seven have denied all the charges against them. Two of the
Bulgarian nurses and the Palestinian doctor have stated in court
that confessions they made to police in Tripoli were extracted by
force.
Aids-related diseases have already killed 23 of the children in the Al-Fateh children's hospital in Benghazi, where the Bulgarians worked.
Last week Libyan Foreign Minister Abdel Rahman Shalgham said
during a visit to Sofia that the defendents were "guaranteed
100% justice" in Libya. - Sapa-AFP
- SAPA
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