Defendants cleared in Yugoslav Spider trial

A court in Yugoslavia has acquitted five men on charges of spying for France.

Three of the defendants were also cleared of murdering two Kosovo Albanians.

The men were arrested last year and accused of terrorism and belonging to a shadowy organisation, called Spider, which was said to have plotted to assassinate the former Yugoslav president, Slobodan Milosevic.

The judge ruled there was no evidence to support the charges.

The men were, however, sentenced to one year in prison for possessing explosives and extorting money from ethnic Albanians during last year's conflict over Kosovo.

They have already served this time in pre-trial custody and so have been released. Defence lawyers said the case was politically motivated but human rights activists said they deplored the quaashing of the murder charges.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service