Boeremag in lawyer crisis

2004-04-23 15:18

Pretoria - At least 13 of the accused in the Boeremag treason trial may start representing themselves if their legal representatives withdraw because of a dispute about the fees they are being paid by the Legal Aid Board.

Several of the accused have indicated that they did not trust the board to appoint experienced counsel to represent them and would rather do the job themselves if Piet Pistorius and Paul Kruger - who represent 13 of the accused - withdrew from the trial.

Twelve of the accused on Thursday abandoned their latest attempt to force the board to pay more than the maximum fee to their representatives.

Judge Ben du Plessis last month dismissed an application to set aside a number of the board's decisions - including decisions not to pay them more than the maximum fee of R2 375 per day and only for work actually done.

Both of them claimed they were entitled to larger fees as they represented more than one accused.

The accused initially paid the two out of their own pockets, but applied for legal aid in April last year after their funds ran out. They claimed they would not have a fair trial if they did not have the legal representatives of their choice.

On Thursday, they sought to obtain an order declaring that the Legal Aid Board had breached their constitutional rights, but decided to abandon it after Judge Jordaan first recused himself from hearing it and the board thereafter persisted in asking the court to force Pistorius and Kruger to pay the legal costs out of their own pockets if the application failed.

The accused were not prepared to expose their counsel - who was protecting their constitutional rights - to such a possibility.

On Friday, they however asked Jordaan to note an objection to his refusal to hear their constitutional application, saying that his decision had been irregular and prejudiced them.

The trial continues on Monday.

- SAPA