BULGARIA PRESSES LIBYA ON HIV CASE

Views on BG | December 19, 2001, Wednesday // 00:00

BBC

Bulgarian Foreign Minister Solomon Passy is due in Libya on Wednesday to discuss the trial of six Bulgarians who have been accused of deliberately infecting nearly 400 children with the HIV virus. Mr Passy is expected to meet his Libyan counterpart Abdel Rahmane Chalgham ahead of a court ruling due on Saturday. The six Bulgarians - five nurses and a doctor - could face the death penalty if found guilty of injecting the children with HIV-contaminated blood. The medics, who deny the charges, had been working at a children's hospital in the northern city of Benghazi and have been in prison for almost three years. A Palestinian doctor and nine Libyans have also been charged in the case, in which Libya says more than 20 children have already died. The accused are charged with "premeditated murder with the aim of undermining Libyan security". All have pleaded not guilty.

Controversy

Mr Passy is also expected to hold a meeting with Serif al-Islam, the son of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi and chairman of the Gaddafi International Foundation for Charity Associations, who has agreed to be an observer at the trial. The trial has provoked strong feelings in Bulgaria after two of the defendants alleged they had been tortured and made confessions under duress. It has also raised concern among human rights groups who have complained about reports that HIV-contaminated plasma was discovered at a defendant's apartment while she was in police custody, and the refusal of the court to allow expert opinion from Switzerland and France.

Bad practices

One Swiss expert has said the contamination was caused by "bad medical practices", such as re-using needles. Muammar Gaddafi has said the CIA or Mossad, Israel's intelligence agency, were behind the children's illnesses. He has blamed other crises on the United States and Israel, both of which accuse Libya of supporting terrorism. Besides the murder and conspiracy counts, the Bulgarians are charged with drinking in public - alcohol is banned in Libya - and engaging in extramarital sex.

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