Othman al-Bizanti, a Libyan lawyer who is part of the defense team, told AFP Monday it would be "very difficult" for the nurses and a Palestinian doctor, all accused by the prosecution of having "spread an epidemic", to be freed during their retrial.

He said the tribunal in Tripoli would hear witnesses from both the defense and prosecution on Tuesday.

"The tribunal may consent tomorrow to open an inquiry into the torture (of the defendants)," he said.

The court in the Libyan capital is hearing the retrial of the nurses and doctor, who worked in a hospital in the eastern city of Benghazi and were accused of having infected 426 children there with HIV, whom 52 have since died of AIDS.

The defendants have all asserted their innocence and have said their statements to police were made while being tortured. They also maintain that the infections were the result of poor hygiene at the hospital.

The six, who were first detained in 1999, were condemned to death in May 2004 after an initial trial in Benghazi in a case that has strained ties between Tripoli and Sofia.

The supreme court ordered a retrial following an appeal last December.

At an earlier session on July 4, only three witnesses were heard -- a father and two mothers of children, also in attendance, who had been infected in hospital.

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