3 treason men want own trial
2003-08-19 16:15
Pretoria - Three of the 22 Boeremag treason trialists brought an application in the Pretoria High Court on Tuesday for their trial to be separated from that of the other 19.
Legal counsel for brothers Mike and André du Toit and Jacobus "Rooikoos" du Plessis argued that 33 of the charges listed were not applicable to them, as the crimes were committed while they were in jail.
Harry Prinsloo, for the three, disputed the State's contention that his clients were guilty of the crimes because these were executed as a result of a conspiracy of which they were part.
The State had been unable to show in the indictment that the three were aware of the crimes being planned, or that they associated themselves with them, he said.
The three were arrested in April last year. The crimes were committed between September and December.
These included the death of Claudia Mamatsieng Mokone in a bomb explosion in Soweto on October 29, the attempted murder of former president Nelson Mandela on October 11, and a range of contraventions of arms, ammunition and explosives laws.
Pieter Luyt, for the State, argued that the application was premature, as no evidence had yet been led.
He said that, in any event, it was clear all the accused committed different deeds to the furtherance of a greater goal - that of overthrowing the government by violent means.
They were parties to a conspiracy and would have to face up to all the crimes which followed from that.
Luyt contended the three were involved in compiling Document 12, which outlined different phases in the planned coup d'etat.
'Had intention to commit violence'
"There is a golden thread linking the three men's original planning of the crimes to the eventual execution," he told the court.
"It is the State's case that they had the intention to commit violence.
"It is not necessary to prove they envisaged or planned specific violent deeds when they stood for violence in general."
The 22 men stand accused of planning to overthrow the government as members of the rightwing Boeremag organisation, with the aim of declaring a Boer republic.
They face a total of 42 charges, which also include treason, terrorism and sabotage.
The issue of the C-Max prison's choice of music was raised again on Tuesday after some of the men complained on Monday they were suffering psychological breakdowns for being forced to listen to "black music" for 15 hours a day.
Prosecutor Dries van Rensburg said he visited the prison on Monday afternoon, and was told management was merely following policy.
The policy stated that anyone being held in solitary confinement should be kept in contact with the outside world -- which included radio.
Plea to turn off radio speakers
He also pointed out that the prison alternated Metro FM, about which the complaint was lodged, with Jacaranda 94.2 every second day.
There were about 300 inmates in C-Max, including 13 of the Boeremag accused.
Judge Eben Jordaan pointed out that it was surely every person's right not to have to listen to a radio station he did not wish to.
Piet Pistorius, for the trialists, said the answer was to switch off the speakers in those sections holding the Boeremag accused. They all had their own radio's anyway.
The judge asked prison management to consider this option, saying there was clearly a simple answer to the problem. There should be no need for the accused to turn to a court for relief in this regard, he said.
The court heard on Monday that one of the trialists had contemplated suicide as a result of the music. Legal counsel accused the prison of using the sound system as an "instrument of torture".
The hearing continues.
- SAPA