Trial starts over Ukranian protesters

Up to thirty people have appeared in court in the Ukrainian capital, Kiev, after police broke up a protest against President Kuchma earlier today.

The deputy chief of police in Kiev Oleksandr Savchenko said they were being charged with malicious resistance to police officers and could face a fine or a fifteen-day jail sentence.

They were among about a hundred protesters evicted from a tent camp they had set up in the centre of Kiev.

The protesters had been demanding that Mr Kuchma investigate the death of the journalist, Georgiy Gongadze, who was critical of the president's rule.

Mr Kuchma has denied any involvement in the journalist's disappearance.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service