Libyan courts are not launching the new trial against the Bulgarian nurses, because the defense has not handed in the necessary documents, their Egyptian lawyer Emmanuel Altit has said.

Altit said for the Bulgarian National Radio that he had invited his Libyan colleague Osman Bizanti to discuss the problem in Cairo. The defense had to first submit a plea, so that the court can decide who will hear the trial, he added.

The Egyptian lawyer never spoke the truth and did not know the local legislation well, Bizanti retorted angrily. Transfering the hearings was an administrative procedure that had nothing to do with filing pleas, he explained. Bulgaria's defense coordinator on the case lawyer Trayan Markovski also denied that there have been any lapses in the work of the defense.

Bulgaria trusts Bizanti 100%, former Justice Minister Anton Stankov said.

The five Bulgarian nurses, were sentenced to death by a firing squad on charges of infecting 400 Libyan children with the HIV virus. Their case was returned for reviewing by the court of appeals and a new hearing still hasn't been scheduled. The five have spent over seven years jailed in Libya.

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