The Libyan lawyer OSMAN BISANTI, retained by the Bulgarian State to defend the medics, is one of the most authoritative legal experts in the Jamahiriya.  Aged 63, he has over 40 years' experience as a legal practitioner.  He graduated in law in Egypt and did post-graduate studies in Britain, France and the US.  Bisanti speaks English and French.

On February 27, 2000, in the presence of Embassy officials, the accused Bulgarian citizens signed authorizations in the name of Bisanti. Lawyer PLAMEN YALNUZOV represents the Interdepartmental Commission on the case.  He confers periodically with Bisanti and attends the court hearings.


Dr DANAIL BESHKOV, Director of the National AIDS Laboratory, is Bisanti’s medical consultant. Beshkov was appointed consultant in the case by the Ministry of Health on April 9, 2000. He is handling the medical aspects of the case, studies similar cases in other countries, and corresponds with the foreign experts: Prof. LUC MONTAIGNER of the Institut Pasteur in Paris, who discovered the AIDS virus, and Prof. LUC PERRIN of the Geneva University Hospital.

At a hearing on April 30, 2000, Bisanti petitioned the court to admit in evidence the reports of the World Health Organization (WHO) on the spread of AIDS in Libya, commissioned by Libya, as well as analyses from the AIDS Laboratory of the Institut Pasteur and such made by Prof. Montaigner.  At a hearing on November 4, 2000, the lawyer sought consideration of the opinions of Prof. Montaigner and Prof. Perrin, who diagnosed part of the infected Libyan children, and the opinion of WHO and Bulgarian experts. At the latest hearing, on January 6, the defence did not raise the question of expert medical opinions.

Bulgarian lawyer VLADIMIR SHEITANOV, 45, a former diplomat who has been practicing law for one year, was retained by the medics' relatives.  He graduated in international relations in Moscow and in banks and banking at the World and National Economy University in Sofia. He has done post-graduate studies at the Georgetown University, in Geneva and at the Washington University of International Law. The admission of a foreign lawyer to a Libyan trial is a precedent in that country. It was made possible by the passage by the Bulgarian parliament of a law permitting foreign lawyers to defend foreign citizens in Bulgaria.

In late March 2000 the President of the People's Prosecution Bureau, General Misurati, said that Sheitanov could consider himself constituted.  On April 29 the authorities allowed him to participate in the Bulgarians' defence, and he left for his first visit to Tripoli on May 23.  He attended the court hearings until October but missed the one on November 4.  In late October 2000, Sheitanov received an official permission from the People's Prosecution Bureau to meet with the Bulgarian detainees.

On December 15, 2000, Deputy Foreign Minister Marin Raikov handed Sheitanov the medical reports drafted by AIDS experts Luc Montaigner and Luc Perrin addressed to Bizanti.

ABU AJEILA AL-MAALUL is a people's lawyer, appointed in October 2000 to cooperate with Sheitanov in handling the case records and attend he latter’s meetings with the defendants. At the court hearing on February 10, 2001, Maalul was criticized by the court for not spending enough time working with Sheitanov and a new lawyer was appointed to replace him: SALLEH MOHAMMED BEN HALIM.

On March 22, 2002, acting of their own accord, the Bulgarian medics issued a written declaration withdrawing the representative power of the authorizations they had granted lawyer Vladimir Sheitanov. The six Bulgarians authorized in writing lawyer PLAMEN YALNUZOV of the Sofia College of the Bar to represent them within the territory of Libya and to defend their rights and interests until the final conclusion of proceedings before the courts of all tiers.