Britain, Canada see Yugoslavia detainees

Clockwise: Briton, Adrian Prangnell; Canadian, Liam Hall; Briton, John Yore; Canadian, Shaun Going.

BELGRADE, Yugoslavia -- British and Canadian diplomats have been allowed access for the first time to four of their nationals detained in Yugoslavia as suspected terrorists more than a week ago.

Britain's top envoy in Belgrade Robert Gordon and Canada's acting charge d'affaires Craig Bale said the two British policemen and the Canadian businessman and his nephew who were all arrested in Montenegro were well.

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"We have seen them, they're healthy and they've been well-treated," Canadan envoy Craig Bale said outside Belgrade's Supreme Military Court after meeting the two Canadians, Shaun Going and Liam Hall, inside.

"They will be able to talk to their families this afternoon," Bale said, adding that he hoped to see them again on Friday and that they would be released as soon as possible.

Robert Gordon, head of the British interests section of the Brazilian embassy, had a 40-minute meeting with the men at Belgrade's Military Court on Thursday.

He said: "I was able to meet them, they look fine, in good health. They are looking forward to receiving some reading material. I will be in touch with them again soon."

Yugoslavia cut off diplomatic relations with Britain at the start of last year's NATO bombing campaign and contacts are now maintained through the Brazilian embassy.

Asked if the detained men had messages for their families, Gordon said: "Yes they did. I have to go and pass those messages to their families now."

The British men's defence lawyer Djordje Djurisic said he and Gordon had spoken with Adrian Prangnell and John Yore for about 40 minutes.

"They're in good health and in good spirits so far. We hope the investigation will end soon, sometime next week, I don't know yet."

"Then the matter will then be sent to the military prosecutor. Based on the evidence now, we are hopeful for a successful and positive outcome," Djurisic told reporters.

The Yugoslav army said it had detained Prangnell and Yore on the border between Yugoslavia's coastal republic Montenegro and Kosovo with Canadians Shaun Going and his nephew Liam Hall overnight between August 1 and 2.

It has alleged the four men committed several crimes, including attempted terrorism. They have denied all the charges.

Western officials say the four men were on holiday from jobs helping to rebuild majority Albanian Kosovo, still formally a Serbian province but a de facto international protectorate since June 1999.

The Britons were helping to train a new police force in Kosovo under the auspices of the U.N. administration which took over the province after 78 days of NATO air strikes forced Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic to withdraw his forces.

Going owns a construction contracting firm operating in Kosovo and was carrying equipment used to blast stone quarries.

The Yugoslav army had said the four men appeared to be experts in "terrorist activities," but Chief of Staff General Nebojsa Pavkovic was quoted on Thursday as saying they were not necessarily terrorists, independent Beta news agency said.

"The fact that they were arrested does not make them a terrorists. It is something that the investigation will determine," Beta quoted Pavkovic as saying.

"The foreigners were caught on Yugoslav territory without the proper identification and had mining equipment with them, which was, from the army's point of view, enough to make a legal arrest," the agency cited Pavkovic as telling Montenegrin radio Montena.

Djurisic, who had earlier said the closed hearing was set to continue on Friday with testimony from witnesses, said the detainees had spoken to their families by telephone and had been allowed to send and receive mail.

"I hope they will be released before the mail arrives," he added.

Copyright 2000 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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