A Libyan People's Court ordered a new probe in the...

A Libyan People's Court ordered a new probe in the trial of six Bulgarian medics and a Palestinian doctor accused of deliberately infecting hundreds of children with HIV, a Bulgarian official said.
The court also dropped charges of conspiracy with foreign intelligence services against the Libyan state.
The move raised hopes in Bulgaria that the medics might be acquitted on charges of infecting 393 children at a Benghazi hospital with blood products contaminated with the virus which can cause AIDS. Some of the children have since died.
The six Bulgarians and the Palestinian face a possible death sentence if convicted in the first trial of its kind in Libya involving foreigners. All the defendants pleaded not guilty, as did nine Libyans who face similar charges.
"The Libyan People's Court returned the files on the case back to the prosecutors' office, saying there had not been enough evidence to back the charges against the medics," a press official for President Georgi Parvanov told Reuters.
The Libyan People's Court usually rules in cases related to national security. The original indictment against the Bulgarian medics said the infection was part of a conspiracy with Western intelligence services aimed at undermining Libyan security and its role in the Arab world.
"The People's Court transferred the case to an ordinary court because there was not enough evidence proving the defendants had been involved in a crime against the security of the Libyan state," the official said, quoting reports from Bulgarian diplomats present at the court session.Tribunal officials in the Libyan capital confirmed the reports reaching Sofia.
"The case was transferred to an ordinary court because it is not in the field of the People's Court to rule in such a case," a Tripoli People's Court judge said.
"The transfer of the case to a lower court means the main charge - for conspiracy against Libyan security - is dropped," said Djuma Otaika from the influential Gaddafi International Foundation for Charity Associations which observes the trial.