Bulgaria condemned Libya's decision to delay the hearing of the case involving five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctors who were sentenced to death for injecting about 400 Libyan children with HIV-tainted blood.

Bulgarian President Georgy Parvanov condemned the move, saying it "prolongs the tragedy of our five innocent nurses" and of a Palestinian doctor who faces the firing squad alongside them.

"I assure you that Bulgaria will not spare any effort to ensure a favourable outcome of this painful trial," Parvanov said in a statement.

Marian Georgiev, stepson of one of the nurses, said the families were not feeling optimistic, adding that the nurses were actually kept as hostage in Libya.

The six accused medical workers were imprisoned in 1999 in Libya for alleged injecting around 400 children with HIV-tainted blood and were sentenced to death in 2004.

Over 50 of the infected children have died so far.

However, Bulgaria and its allies, the European Union and the United States said the Libyan court's verdicts were unjustified for they based on forced confession and ignored experts's testimony that the epidemic started before the nurses arrived at the hospital and was probably caused by poor hygiene.

All the six accused appealed to the Libyan Supreme Court which postponed its hearing until January 31.

Source: Xinhua