"The act was cruel, criminal and inhuman - it's a human catastrophe," prosecutor Omar Abdulkhaleq told the court on Tuesday in the capital, Tripoli, according to Reuters. "We demand the death penalty for the accused."
The six healthcare professionals deny the charges and have been in custody since 1999, with all bail applications rejected. In 2004 they were sentenced to death by firing squad, but Libya's Supreme Court overturned the convictions in 2005 and sent the case back to a lower court.
More than 50 of the children they are accused of infecting have died. Two of the nurses allegedly confessed during police interrogation, but later testified in court that they had done so under torture, a claim supported by the Bulgarian government.
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