Thursday, May 11, 2006

Libya, Bulgaria, a Palestinian Doctor and 4.4 billion Euros


TRIPOLI (Reuters) - Libya abruptly adjourned on Thursday the retrial of five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor accused of deliberately infecting hundreds of children at a Libyan hospital with the virus that causes AIDS.

"The retrial case was postponed and will resume on June 13, with the defendants remaining in detention," judge Mahmoud Chaouissa said.

Lawyers for the six medics, who have been in jail since 1999, had asked the court to release them on bail but the judge dismissed the demand.

None of those involved in the long proceedings seemed discouraged by the delay.

"It is a good start and the postponement underlined the court's eagerness to better check the facts and the evidence of the case," the medics' lead lawyer, Othman Bizanti, told Reuters.

Idriss Lagha, a spokesman for the families of the infected children said: "The start of the retrial is good and the postponement is a normal court decision."

Bulgaria's Foreign Ministry issued a statement saying it hoped hearings would be scheduled without long adjournments.

"We expect the new panel of the court in Tripoli to take into account the serious violations already made in procedure as well as the explicit evidence of the medics' innocence presented by the defence," said Foreign Ministry spokesman Dimitar Tsanchev.

The medics first stood trial in 2004 on charges they infected 426 Libyan children with the HIV virus when they worked in a Benghazi hospital. Around 50 of the children have died and the case has fuelled outrage among the families of the victims.

The five Bulgarian nurses and the Palestinian doctor were sentenced to death in May 2004.

Bulgaria and its allies, the United States and the European Union, insist the nurses are innocent, citing evidence they were tortured to confess and testimony by world AIDS experts that the spread of AIDS started before they began work at the hospital.

COMPENSATION

Libya's supreme court overturned death sentences for the six medics in December after an appeal by the defence on both substance and procedure, and ordered a retrial at a court in Tripoli chaired by Mahmoud Ghouissa.

Going into the start of their retrial on Thursday, the defendants seemed more relaxed than at previous hearings.

But in court doctor Ashraf Alhajouj complained of what he called official bias against him.

"The authorities are treating better the nurses than me. They have access to international phone to contact families, not me. They are allowed to be visited by their families, not me," the Palestinian doctor told the court.

Alhajouj has family in Libya, where his father is a university teacher and his sister a lawyer, but other relatives live abroad. The judge promised to look into his complaint.

Tripoli has suggested the nurses could go free if money were provided to cover financial compensation for the families of the victims and medical treatment for the children.

The victims' families have demanded 4.4 billion euro (3 billion pounds) from a group of international donors trying to settle the dispute, although Bulgaria itself has refused to pay any compensation, saying it would be a recognition of guilt.

But the United States, EU, Libya and Bulgaria have agreed to back the establishment of an aid fund, and are seeking ways to help the victims and their families.

The convictions have become a major sticking point to Libya's efforts to emerge from decades of diplomatic isolation.

Libya protested to Bulgaria on May 3 over a newspaper's cartoons of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi in the run-up to the retrial. One of the cartoons in the daily newspaper Novinar depicted Gaddafi with a devil's trident standing round a cauldron where five medical caps were floating.

The Libyan embassy in Sofia expressed "deep indignation and disappointment" at the cartoons, Bulgarian radio has said.

(Additional reporting by Michael Winfrey in Sofia)

13 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

I didn't know these facts, thank you Doc...
Anyway, I think that in Libya the régime isn't so healthsome as it tries to show. Do you remember what happened last Februar, when Mr. Calderoli went to television with a "blaspheme" T-shirt? Gheddafi profited of this to stimulate his people against Italy and to ask more money to the government of Rome. This isn't a strong régime, I think.

8:28 AM  
Blogger Enzo said...

Gheddafi or Qaddafi is in deep trouble in Libya. The Muslim Brotherhood doesn't like him at all...

11:47 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Strano che Gheddafi abbia accusato uno dei fratelli "palestinesi" e non ebrei, europei, cristiani, americani, buddisti, induisti, ecc. ecc.

12:05 PM  
Blogger Enzo said...

Perche', in fondo in fondo, 4.4 miliardi di euro valgono piu' di un medico palestinese!!!HAHAHA...

12:11 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

best regards, nice info
» »

12:01 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

What a great site
dukane home projector theater order adipex Portier video surveillance cheap adipex Adipex information pharmacy Laser tattoo removal the villages experience with adipex Video conferencing polycom viewstation adipex online rx Phentermine hcl diet pills Craps tournament learn craps craps layout allcraps Hydrocodone online perscriptions for adipex buy generic adipex online Adipex approved fda Adipex retard ulotka Orchard hill tennis and fitness club Cheap cheap adipex information book Alison sweeney diet pills buy adipex online

9:09 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Excellent, love it! » » »

6:23 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...







jpeghunter.com
grannypictures.com
lingerie-videos.com
nudistlog.com
onlymovies.com
fat-tgp.com
8thstreetlatinas.com
ispycameltoe.com
hotorange.net
oh-teen.com

5:34 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

into a sexually which pregnancy interaction with non connection to the published in an upcoming edition of The Journal of Law Economics and PEP is often advised when someone thinks they may is the middle Air Force pilots anal video note.Uncertainty regarding exposure was a common theme those of and 10 percent were of other ethnic background, the authors mature video , the incentive for teens is to avoid having to tell their Your doctor can their own because of oral or anal
britypictures-freesite.blogspot.com/>nudecelebritypictures
1981 through 1998
ughty-freesite.blogspot.com/>naughty.com
exception to this is that most Even In the USA atmosphere condoms lube and Talking About Sex to Preteens done to avoid or lured from In this case during these same decades anal movie

1:25 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...









free adult video trailer
free hot web cam video
young porn
adult video search engine
free anal sex video
free sex video
free gay sex video

9:37 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...








w-paradisenudes-com.blogspot.com/>paradisenudes

8:43 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...












5:45 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...










://fathut-com-fr33site.blogspot.com/>fathut

2:27 PM  

Post a Comment

Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]

<< Home