A verdict is due today in the trial in Germany of Johannes Weinrich, a key associate of Illich Ramirez Sanchez - the man known as Carlos the Jackal.

Mr Weinrich is accused of murder and attempted murder in the bombing of a French cultural centre in Berlin in 1983 in which one person was killed and twenty-three others injured.

The prosecution allege he organised the attack in revenge for the imprisonment by France of Carlos' girlfriend.

During the 1970s and '80s, the Carlos gang was alleged to have carried out a series of bombings, kidnappings and hijackings in support of the Palestinian cause.

Mr Weinrich has rarely spoken during the trial - which began in 1996 - and has consistently refused to testify in his own defence.

Carlos himself is serving a life sentence in France on three convictions for murder.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service