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| Death sentence, billions in compensation demanded in Libyan AIDS case
SOFIA, Sept 8 (AFP) - A Libyan prosecutor Monday demanded the death sentence for seven chiefly Bulgarian medical workers accused of spreading AIDS in a Libyan children's hospital, while the victims' relatives asked for more than four billion dollars in damages, Bulgarian radio reported. The lawyer representing the families of more than 400 children infected with the HIV virus at Benghazi told a court in the northern Libyan town that they should each receive 10 million dollars in damages. BizVantage – Beyond the news - a realtime Net clipping service: for business, investment or technology. The amount per victim corresponds with the 2.7 billion dollars Libya has agreed to pay the families of the 270 people killed in the 1988 Lockerbie plane bombing. Five Bulgarian nurses and two doctors -- one Bulgarian and one Palestinian -- have pleaded innocent to infecting the children with tainted blood products. Prosecutors originally gave the number of infected children as 393, but on Monday upped it to 426. Twenty-three of the children have already died, Professor Luc Montagnier, the French doctor who first isolated the HIV virus, last week told the court that the AIDS epidemic had begun before the arrival of the seven accused and was probably caused by poor hygiene. But the state prosecutor Monday called on the jury to disregard Montagnier's testimony. He said he was asking for the death penalty based on evidence by a Libyan doctor and on statements to the police. According to the police two of the nurses and the Palestinian doctor admitted guilt, but the three have told the court that they confessed under duress after being maltreated by the police. The case is due to continue on September 22. vs/ef/tm Bulgaria-Libya-AIDS
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