Basson: Another hearing?
2003-07-16 21:52
Pretoria - Dr Wouter Basson may face a retrial if the State's latest application is successful.
Anton Ackermann, special director of the National Prosecuting Authority, handed in an application at the Constitutional Court on Wednesday and argued that the Appeal Court's decision to refuse a retrial was wrong on several constitutional grounds.
One of Ackermann's strongest arguments centres on the possibility that Hartzenberg may have had a "real or unconscious bias" against the state.
The Appeal Court found that Hartzenberg acted correctly under the constitution by not withdrawing from the case and therefore validated Basson's constitutional right to a fair trial.
Ackermann says this meant that the entire issue has become a constitutional affair that the Constitutional Court should address in the interest of the country.
Judge Willie Hartzenberg acquitted Basson, a former project officer of the defence force's chemical and biological warfare project, Coast, after a marathon trial in the Pretoria High Court. Ackermann asked Hartzenberg during that trial to recuse himself because of alleged bias. Hartzenberg refused.
Reprimanded
After Basson was acquitted on 67 charges, the state filed an appeal to reopen the case, but on June 3 the Appeal Court turned Ackermann down and reprimanded him to boot.
Now Ackermann claims in court documents that there was a definite or reasonable suspicion of bias on Hartzenberg's part during the trial in the High Court.
He adds that the state is not accusing the judge of being aware of his bias or of acting in bad faith.
"The incidents on which the state's case rests, creates the impression that judge Hartzenberg was unwittingly biased against the state and in favour of Dr Basson," Ackermann says.
He claims the Appeal Court made a mistake by not agreeing with the state in this regard.
A spokesperson for the Constitutional Court said Chief Judge Arthur Chaskalson would soon decide whether this court would hear the state's appeal application. Basson's legal team has not had an opportunity to respond to Ackermann's application.