Bulgarian Medics Infect Afrikan Children with HIV

http://Mediafilter.org/guest/Pages/March.20.2000.02.10.49

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  • This Event Happened in Libya
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  • SOFIA, Feb 22 (Reuters) - Bulgaria said on Tuesday that six Bulgarian medical staff held in Libya for more than a year faced the death penalty if found guilty on charges of infecting children with the HIV virus. Foreign Ministry spokesman Radko Vlaikov said authorities had not yet seen the full text of the indictment, which was read on February 7 before Bulgaria could hire defence lawyers for the accused. ``The Bulgarian citizens have been charged with a very heavy crime -- intentionally infecting children in a hospital in Benghazi where they worked with products contaminated with the virus of AIDS,'' Vlaikov told a news conference. The five nurses and a doctor were detained in February 1999 during a Libyan investigation into how children in the Benghazi hospital became infected with HIV. Nineteen Bulgarian medical staff were initially detained but 13 were freed. ``The envisaged penalty for such a crime, if found guilty, is the death sentence,'' Vlaikov said. The same charges have been levelled against eight Libyans and a national from another Arab state. According to Libyan authorities, 23 out of 393 children infected with HIV have died of AIDS so far, Vlaikov said. ``We find it difficult to believe that our compatriots have been involved in such an act, they were there with the intention to cure children,'' he said. ``It is in our best interest that the cause of this tragedy is unveiled.'' Foreign Minister Nadezhda Mihailova has asked Libya to postpone a court session scheduled for February 28 to give Bulgaria time to hire defence lawyers, Vlaikov said. Under Libyan law the lawyers must be Libyans, but Bulgaria hopes that Bulgarian lawyers will be allowed to work as their assistants and give evidence against the indictment, Vlaikov added. 11:41 02-22-00 Copyright 2000 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of Reuters content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters shall not be liable for any errors or delays in the content, or for any actions taken in reliance thereon. All active hyperlinks have been inserted by AOL Overseas(Africa & M.East)


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