CNN.com - Death demanded for Bulgaria nurses - Aug 29, 2006
CNN.com - Death demanded for Bulgaria nurses - Aug 29, 2006
TRIPOLI, Libya (Reuters) -- A Libyan prosecutor demanded the death penalty on Tuesday for five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor on trial for infecting more than 400 children with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.
"The act was cruel, criminal and inhuman. It's a human catastrophe," prosecutor Omar Abdulkhaleq told the Tripoli court. "We demand the death penalty for the accused."
A previous trial of the six ended with their conviction on charges of intentionally infecting 426 children with HIV when they worked in a hospital in Benghazi in the late 1990s. They were sentenced to death by firing squad.
The supreme court overturned the convictions in December 2005, and ordered a retrial which began in May.
Palestinian doctor Ashraf Alhajouj and Bulgarians Snezhana Dimitrova, Nasya Nenova, Valentina Siropolu, Christiana Valcheva and Valia Cherveniashka pleaded not guilty at both trials and have repeatedly testified that they were tortured to make them confess.
Bulgaria and its allies support the medics' torture claims and global AIDS experts say the outbreak at the Benghazi hospital where they worked began before they arrived.
Around 50 of the HIV-infected children have died, fuelling popular anger in Libya.
Tripoli has suggested the nurses could go free if Bulgaria paid compensation to the children and their families, who have demanded 4.4 billion euros ($5.5 billion).
TRIPOLI, Libya (Reuters) -- A Libyan prosecutor demanded the death penalty on Tuesday for five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor on trial for infecting more than 400 children with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.
"The act was cruel, criminal and inhuman. It's a human catastrophe," prosecutor Omar Abdulkhaleq told the Tripoli court. "We demand the death penalty for the accused."
A previous trial of the six ended with their conviction on charges of intentionally infecting 426 children with HIV when they worked in a hospital in Benghazi in the late 1990s. They were sentenced to death by firing squad.
The supreme court overturned the convictions in December 2005, and ordered a retrial which began in May.
Palestinian doctor Ashraf Alhajouj and Bulgarians Snezhana Dimitrova, Nasya Nenova, Valentina Siropolu, Christiana Valcheva and Valia Cherveniashka pleaded not guilty at both trials and have repeatedly testified that they were tortured to make them confess.
Bulgaria and its allies support the medics' torture claims and global AIDS experts say the outbreak at the Benghazi hospital where they worked began before they arrived.
Around 50 of the HIV-infected children have died, fuelling popular anger in Libya.
Tripoli has suggested the nurses could go free if Bulgaria paid compensation to the children and their families, who have demanded 4.4 billion euros ($5.5 billion).
posted by Charles Martel at 7:43 PM
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