TRIPOLI, Libya, May 10 (UPI) -- The Tripoli trial has been delayed for nine Libyan police officers accused of torturing Bulgarian nurses convicted of giving HIV to Libyan children.
Attorneys for both sides requested the delay, sources told UPI.
The nurses' lawyers requested the postponement to prepare documents seeking compensation of 5 million Libyan dinars for the alleged torture during interrogation, the sources said.
Lawyers for the officers, meanwhile, requested more time to find witnesses who attended the interrogations.
The officers were indicted on charges of extracting false confessions from the nurses by means of torture and force.
The five Bulgarian nurses were sentenced to death last year after being convicted of transferring the virus that causes AIDS to more than 400 Libyan children in a Benghazi hospital in 1998.
The Bulgarian government has insisted the nurses are innocent and Libya has suggested it might release them in exchange for financial compensation.
