Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2006. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
BBC News - May 11, 2006
Their retrial follows a ruling by Libya's Supreme Court in December which quashed an earlier guilty verdict and death sentences on the accused.
The BBC's South-East Europe analyst Gabriel Partos examines the details of the case.
Q: Why is there a retrial now?
The latest development in the marathon judicial process comes nearly six months after Libya's Supreme Court ordered a retrial on grounds of "procedural flaws" in the initial trial, which was concluded with guilty verdicts two years ago. That earlier judgement had passed the death sentence on the six accused for intentionally infecting over 400 patients in Benghazi's children's hospital.
Q: Why would the accused have done that?
The prosecution's case was that this was part of a scientific experiment.
Q: How have the accused pleaded?
They have been protesting their innocence - in spite of earlier confessions by some of them while awaiting trial. But since then they have been claiming that they were tortured into making those confessions - which they subsequently retracted. However, a separate trial of the police officers involved in the alleged cases of torture ended in their acquittal a year ago.
Q: How strong has the prosecution's case been?
It has been dismissed by a number of scientific authorities on the subject, including Luc Montagnier, the French co-discoverer of HIV, and Professor Vittorio Colizzi of Rome University. They stated in their testimony that the HIV infections pre-dated the defendants' arrival in the Benghazi hospital in 1998, and the outbreak had been caused, most likely, by the poor standards of hygiene prevailing there. But their testimony was disregarded by the court.
Q: Why was the foreign experts' testimony ignored?
The HIV infections have affected at least 426 children, 51 of whom have since died. This large-scale tragedy has, at various sensitive moments, raised tensions in the area. The victims and their families have been repeatedly calling for the verdicts - death by firing squad - to be carried out. In addition, the Benghazi region, with its own strong tribal traditions, and what some observers see as its latent Muslim fundamentalist tendencies, has represented something of a problem for the Libyan leader, Muammar Gaddafi.
Q: Does that suggest that the accused - all of them foreigners - have been treated as scapegoats?
That is certainly what the accused and their supporters believe. And if that were, indeed, the case, it would explain why it would certainly be difficult for the Libyan authorities to accept the international experts' testimony that the reason for the outbreak had to do with the general lack of hygiene in the Benghazi hospital.
Q: What hope is there for the accused?
After the initial guilty verdicts were announced, Libyan officials suggested that the death sentences might be commuted if the victims and their families were to accept compensation from the Bulgarian authorities - at the same rate, it was suggested, as that paid for victims of the US-based PanAm airliner that was blown up over Lockerbie in Scotland in 1988. Libya paid compensation after one of its secret service agents had been found guilty of involvement in the bombing.
Q: Has the Bulgarian government shown willingness to pay compensation?
No. It said this would amount to accepting responsibility for the deaths of the Libyan Aids victims. Sofia is adamant that the Bulgarian nurses had nothing to do with the HIV infections; and even if they were in any way to blame, that would not implicate the Bulgarian government.
Q: So what is Bulgaria doing to help bring the case to an end?
Sofia has been working behind the scenes, lobbying at the United Nations, in the United States and within the European Union - which it is due to join in 2007. In the most recent declaration of support from a major power, the US Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, expressed the hope while on a visit to Bulgaria last month that the nurses would soon be set free.
Q: How much is that likely to sway the Libyan leader?
Mr Gaddafi has been working on his country's international rehabilitation, which has advanced in recent years following its compliance with the Lockerbie judgement and Libya's announcement three years ago that it was abandoning its pursuit of weapons of mass destruction. At the same time, Mr Gaddafi does not want to be seen to be acting under pressure from the EU and the US.
Q: Is there a possible face-saving formula?
Yes, an international fund has been set up, with EU, US, Libyan and Bulgarian participation, to help the victims and their families. The fund is contributing to the construction of a new hospital in Benghazi, and some of the sick children are due to go to France and Italy later this month to receive treatment. Such assistance - as a sign of humanitarian solidarity, not as an acceptance of responsibility - might help resolve the issue.
Q: And what about the legal process in the meantime?
The retrial - before a new panel of judges - is only the latest stage in this long-running case. The court's judgement, in turn, could go back on appeal for a final ruling by Libya's Supreme Court. Unless there is a speedy political or humanitarian solution, the medics - already imprisoned for over seven years - may have to wait some more time before they finally find out what their fate is.
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