SOFIA, Bulgaria, May 12 (UPI) -- Bulgaria's authorities expressed concern about newspaper cartoons mocking Libya's justice system just ahead of the retrial of five Bulgarian nurses.
The cartoons, published by the Sofia newspaper Novinar May 3, drew sharp criticism from Libya's government officials who warned of consequences, the International Herald Tribune reported Friday quoting Bulgarian media.
The Libyan Embassy in Sofia expressed "deep indignation and disappointment" over the cartoons, which it described as "humiliating and insulting" to Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi.
The Bulgarian Foreign Ministry said the cartoons "can only harm bilateral relations between Bulgaria and Libya at a sensitive moment when efforts are directed at bringing the case of the Bulgarian nurses to a prompt and favorable end."
Five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor were found guilty and sentenced to death in 1999 of deliberately infecting 393 Libyan children with HIV. The Libyan Supreme Court overturned the conviction last December and a retrial began Thursday, but was adjourned until June 13.
