Libya foreign medics retrial put off to July 4

TRIPOLI, June 20 (Reuters) The retrial of five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor accused of infecting hundreds of Libyan children with HIV was postponed today for a third time to give lawyers more time to prepare evidence.

The retrial, as well as questions over Libya's human rights record, have been seen as obstacles to improved relations with the West at a time when Washington is preparing to resume full diplomatic relations with Tripoli after decades of tension.

Court President Mahmoud Haouissa adjourned proceedings until July 4 at the request of lead defence lawyer Othman Bizanti, who said he needed more time to gather documentary evidence. It was the third postponement since the retrial began in May.

Washington has long backed Bulgaria and the European Union in saying the medics, in jail in Libya since 1999, are innocent.

The Palestinian doctor, Ashraf Alhajouj, said in a brief statement to the court: ''I need the truth. I am not asking for mercy. I am innocent.'' In December Libya's supreme court overturned the convictions, which had resulted in sentences of death by firing squad. The first trial convicted the six of intentionally infecting 426 Libyan children with the HIV virus when they worked in a Benghazi hospital.

Bulgaria and its allies say the medics were tortured to confess, and global AIDS experts say the outbreak at the Benghazi hospital where they worked began before they arrived.

Haouissa turned down a request by Bizanti that international experts be allowed to give evidence for the defence.

French doctor Luc Montagnier, who first detected the HIV virus, provided testimony in the first trial that the epidemic broke out a year before the arrival of the Bulgarians.

Ramadan Faitori, a spokesman for families of the victims, told a news conference after today's hearing that Montaignier and fellow HIV expert Vittorio Colizzi of Italy should retract statements they have given in defence of the nurses. Faitori said the statements were based on ''wrong information''.

If the two did not retract their statements the families would take unspecified legal action against them, he said.

Tripoli has suggested the nurses could go free if Bulgaria pays compensation to the children and their families, who have demanded 4.4 billion euros (5.5 billion dollars). Bulgaria has refused to pay, but has joined the United States, the EU and Libya in agreeing to back the creation of an aid fund.

Around 50 of the HIV-infected children have died, fuelling popular anger in Libya, but analysts say the offer of aid may give Tripoli a face-saving opportunity to free the nurses.

Washington announced on May 15 it was starting the process of restoring full diplomatic ties with Tripoli in recognition of its decision to end a weapons of mass destruction programme, but the decision has yet to go through Congress.

REUTERS KD VV1719