TRIPOLI, Dec 22 (AFP) - The verdict in the trial of six Bulgarians who are accused of deliberately killing Libyan children by infecting them with the virus that causes AIDS has been put off until February 17, a judicial official said Saturday.
Bulgarian radio said that the sole doctor among the accused, Zdravko Georgiev, cried out "This is horrible, this is impossible!" when the postponement was announced, saying that he was being held in a cell with 56 other men.
The verdict in the trial, which started almost two years ago, had been due to be announced Saturday, after already being postponed on September 22.
Georgiev and five Bulgarian nurses are accused, along with a Palestinian doctor who worked with them at a pediatric hospital in the northern city of Benghazi, of deliberately injecting 393 children in their care with blood products infected with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.
Twenty-three children are reported to have died already.
The accused are charged with "premeditated murder to undermine the security of Libya." All have pleaded not guilty.
Eight Libyans are accused of negligence in the trial, which started on February 7, 2000.
Bulgarian Foreign Minister Solomon Passi who arrived in Tripoli early Thursday to be present for the verdict, said he believed in the "independence" of the Libyan justice system.
Passi, speaking during a press conference with Libyan Justice Minister Mohamed al-Misrati, also said he hoped the verdict would be "just."
"This trial is not aimed at the Bulgarian people, who are following it with great interest," Passi said.
Commenting on the delay in the verdict, the foreign minister added that it was "better to announce a just verdict in this case, instead of a speedy verict which could be against the interests of the accused."
Misrati, meanwhile, said that the case was being conducted in way which conformed to "all laws applied to Libyans and foreigners living in this country."
"It should not cause any tension," the Libyan minister said.
Passi was also expected to meet with Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi's son, Seif al-Islam, who is president of the Kadhafi Foundation, a charity which is also an observer at the trial.
Islam pressed for the release of the accused in October.
Earlier in Sofia, the head of the Bulgarian parliament, Ognian Gerjikov, said he was "unhappily surprised" by the delay.
"I was convinced that there would be a verdict today," he said.
"This new postponement will be very depressing for the accused Bulgarians," he said, adding that Sofia "cannot allow itself a categorical reaction because it is important to preserve the delicate relations between Bulgaria and Libya."
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