Decision due in Yugoslav Spider trial

A court in Belgrade is due to give its verdict later today in the case of five men accused of spying for France.

Three of them have also been accused of murdering two Kosovo Albanians.

The Yugoslav authorities said the men belonged to a shadowy organisation called Spider.

They had said the team planned to kill the former president, Slobodan Milosevic, although that charge did not appear on the indictment.

Defence lawyers say the case is politically motivated and should be thrown out for lack of evidence.

Human rights activists agree that the case is politically motivated, but they produced a witness statement from Kosovo which they say proves the charge of murder levelled against three of the defendants.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service