The Arraignment Chamber in Benghazi decided to refer Case No. 213 of 2002 to the criminal court. The case has been instituted in connection with the spread of the HIV virus at the Benghazi Children's Hospital in 1998.

Charges for the infection of some 400 Libyan children have been pressed against Bulgarian nurses Kristiyana Vulcheva, Nassya Nenova, Valentina Siropoulo, Valya Chervenyashka and Snezhana Dimitrova, and Dr Zdravko Georgiev. A co-defendant is Palestinian Ashraf al-Hadjudj.

All facts presented are based on documents and materials kept in the BTA archives, and eyewitness accounts and investigative reports provided by the agency's correspondents.

This is the fullest existing record on the attempt to implicate Bulgarian citizens in the AIDS scandal in Libya, which has been going on for five years now.