Retrial resumes in Tripoli of foreign medics accused of infecting children with HIV

The retrial of five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor accused of knowingly infecting hundreds of Libyan children with HIV has resumed in the Libyan capital, Tripoli.

The trial was adjourned for the third time on June 20th following a request from the leading defence lawyer Othman Bizanti for more time to call witnesses and gather documentary evidence.

In the first trial which lasted almost six years, the group were convicted of intentionally infecting 426 Libyan children with the HIV virus when they worked in a Benghazi hospital.

It is thought as many as 50 of the children have since died and parents are angry and upset; three have appeared with their infected children as prosecution witnesses.

The defendants were condemned to death in 2004 but the Libyan Supreme Court overturned the verdicts which would have meant death by firing squad, and ordered a retrial in December.

The medics have been in jail since 1999.

The retrial has raised questions over Libya's human rights record and has been seen as a major barrier to improved relations with the West just as Washington is preparing to resume full diplomatic relations with Tripoli after decades of hostility.

The medics have the support of Bulgaria and the European Union along with the U.S. in their claims of innocence, and world AIDS experts say the outbreak at the Benghazi hospital began well before they arrived and the the children were infected through poor hygiene.

Libya has suggested the nurses could go free if Bulgaria pays compensation to the children and their families, who have demanded 4.4 billion euros ($5.5 billion).

Bulgaria has refused to do this but has joined the United States, the EU and Libya in agreeing to back the creation of an aid fund.

Experts believe the offer of aid may give Tripoli a face-saving opportunity to free the six.