US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice called for the release of the Bulgarian nurses charged with intentional HIV infection in Libya.

Libya should release the Bulgarians based on humanitarian reasons, Rice said. She also called for the payment of compensation to the families of victims in the Lockerbie bombing, Bulgarian National Radio reported.

Rice stated her request during a meeting with Libyan foreign minister Abdel-Rahman Shalgham in New York during a September 23 meeting.

Associated Press reported that though Libya was trying hard to establish good diplomatic relations with the US, Rice was not expected to visit the country before the problem with the Bulgarian nurses was resolved.

US called for the release of the five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor on trial for the same charges.

Several sittings in the trial were already postponed due to procedural reasons. During one of the sittings prosecution called for the confirmation of the Bulgarians’ death sentences and presented footage of a house search, which allegedly produced some of the main evidence in the trial.