Libya on Thursday abruptly adjourned the retrial of five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor accused of deliberately infecting hundreds of children at a Libyan hospital with the virus that causes AIDS.
"The retrial case was postponed and will resume on June 13, with the defendants remaining in detention," judge Mahmoud Chaouissa said, denying a defence request that their clients be released on bail.
The judge said the postponement was needed to allow lawyers who lacked proper papers to bring the documents to court.
None of those involved in the long proceedings seemed discouraged by the delay.
"It is a good start and the postponement underlined the court's eagerness to better check the facts and the evidence of the case," said Othman Bizanti, the medics' lead lawyer.
Idriss Lagha, a spokesman for the families of the infected children, called the postponement "a normal court decision".
Bulgaria's Foreign Minister Ivailo Kalfin told Bulgarian national radio: "We hope the trial will begin and end as quickly as possible. ... The sooner it ends, the better."
The medics first stood trial in 2004 on charges they infected 426 Libyan children with the HIV virus when they worked in a Benghazi hospital. Around 50 of the children have died and the case has fuelled outrage among the families of the victims.
The six defendants, who have been in jail since 1999, were sentenced to death in May 2004.
Bulgaria and its allies, the United States and the European Union, insist the medics are innocent, citing evidence they were tortured to confess and testimony by world AIDS experts that the spread of AIDS started before they began work at the hospital.
Libya's supreme court overturned their death sentences in December after an appeal by the defence on both substance and procedure, and ordered a retrial at a court in Tripoli.
The High Court cited "inconsistency" in the investigation and respect of some legal procedures.
Tripoli has suggested the nurses could go free if money were provided to cover financial compensation for the families of the victims and medical treatment for the children.
The victims' families have demanded 4.4 billion euro ($5.43 billion) from a group of international donors trying to settle the dispute, although Bulgaria itself has refused to pay any compensation, saying it would be a recognition of guilt.
But the United States, EU, Libya and Bulgaria have agreed to back the establishment of an aid fund, and are seeking ways to help the victims and their families.
The convictions have become a major sticking point to Libya's efforts to emerge from decades of diplomatic isolation. Going into the start of their retrial on Thursday, the defendants seemed more relaxed than at previous hearings. But in court doctor Ashraf Alhajouj complained of what he called official bias against him.
"The authorities are treating better the nurses than me. They have access to international phone to contact families, not me. They are allowed to be visited by their families, not me," the Palestinian doctor told the court.
Alhajouj has family in Libya, where his father is a university teacher and his sister a lawyer, but other relatives live abroad. The judge promised to look into his complaint.
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