The trial of six Bulgarians and a Palestinian accused of spreading an AIDS epidemic in Libya reopened but was adjourned again indefinitely Tuesday, court sources said.
No other details were provided of the trial on Tuesday's hearing in Benghazi, east of Tripoli, which had recommenced following an earlier ten-month adjournment, according to AFP.
Six Bulgarians - five nurses and one doctor - along with a Palestinian doctor, worked at a hospital in Benghazi when they were arrested in 1998 on charges of infecting 393 Libyan children with the HIV virus that causes AIDS, through tainted blood products.
The case was thrown out for lack of evidence when it first went to a special court in 2002, but the prosecution re-filed the charges and Benghazi judicial authorities decided in August to reopen the case before a criminal court.
AIDS-related diseases have already killed at least 23 of the children at the Al-Fateh children's hospital.
The medics have been in prison for almost three years. They face the death sentence if found guilty. (Albawaba.com)
© 2003 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
