Bulgarian nurses appeal in Libya HIV case

TRIPOLI, Feb 17 (Reuters) Five Bulgarian nurses sentenced to death for infecting hundreds of Libyan children with the virus that causes AIDS appealed on Saturday against their conviction, their lawyer said.

Othman Bizanti said he had lodged appeal papers on their behalf at the criminal court in Tripoli where they were found guilty, along with Palestinian doctor Ashraf Alhajouj, on December 19.

He said the court would send the papers on to the Supreme Court, which will rule on the appeal in two to three months.

He added that Alhajouj's lawyer Altuhami Altumi had lodged appeal papers for him on Thursday.

The Libyan prosecution blamed the nurses and Alhajouj for starting an HIV epidemic in a hospital in the eastern town of Benghazi in the late 1990s, basing its case mainly on confessions from some of the nurses, who say they are innocent and were tortured to admit guilt.

European Union newcomer Bulgaria and its allies in Brussels and Washington have called the verdicts unfair and have stepped up diplomatic pressure on Tripoli to release the six.

Even if the conviction in the HIV case is upheld, a government-led Libyan body called the high judicial council can overturn it.

But experts say that is likely to happen only if Western nations and Libya can agree on how much the West should pay towards a fund that has been set up to help the hundreds of HIV-infected Libyan children.

Prospects of such a deal -- long discussed by Libya and Western officials as a face-saving solution -- have dimmed amid a recent war of words between Libya and Bulgaria over the case.

REUTERS AB RN2335