A Libyan prosecutor has demanded the death penalty for five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor standing trial for the second time on charges of deliberately infecting more than 400 Libyan children with the HI virus.
"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.
"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.
This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions
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