Britain demands action for pair held in Yugoslavia

LONDON (Reuters) -- Britain is demanding Yugoslavia either charge two British police officers held on suspicion of spying or release them immediately.

Foreign Office Minister Peter Hain summoned Yugoslavia's senior diplomat in London, Rade Drobac, to insist there should be "no further delay in the judicial process," a spokesman said.

He said the two Britons -- Adrian Prangnell, 41, and John Yore, 31 -- had effectively already served three weeks in prison after being arrested along with two Canadians in the border area between Kosovo and Montenegro in early August.

Britain says the pair had been training recruits for a new U.N. police force in Kosovo.

The Yugoslav army has said it will press terrorism charges against the two and Canadians Shaun Going and Liam Hall. The four have not been officially charged and a court has not yet said whether they should stand trial.

Last week, Drobac rebuffed British appeals for speedy action over the detentions, saying the matter was serious and that Yugoslav courts would deal with them in their own time.

The Foreign Office spokesman said Hain also asked that Yugoslavia fully investigate reports in British newspapers that the men had been beaten and tortured.

The Mail on Sunday and the Sunday Times said Prangnell and Yore were punched, stamped on and slapped while in custody.

A Canadian diplomat has also said the two Canadians had been "roughed up" during their initial detention.

Hain asked Drobac for the men to be granted daily access to consular officials and defence lawyers and that the meetings, which have so far been in the presence of military police and investigators, should be held in private.

Hain also passed on two letters from the men's mothers, addressed to Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic, appealing for their early release.

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