Basson could be retried
2004-10-11 08:50
Johannesburg - If Dr Wouter Basson is retried on all the charges of which he was acquitted in the High Court in Pretoria last year he would in no way be risking double jeopardy.
That is if the Constitutional Court finds that judge Willie Hartzenberg was indeed biased towards Basson and against the State in the Pretoria trial.
This is the crux of the state's argument in the application for leave to appeal to the Constitutional Court that will be heard early next year.
If the Constitutional Court finds evidence of bias, it means that Basson's acquittal in Pretoria, "in fact all the proceedings in Pretoria", will be declared null and void.
Basson would therefore never have been exposed to any risk (of being found guilty).
Advocates Wim Trengove, Alfred Cockrell and Nadine Fourie submitted their written arguments to the senior registrar of the court, Martie Stander, on Friday afternoon.
The submitted documents make up 22 volumes. The court order that the State wants to appeal is that of the Appeal Court that upheld Hartzenberg's ruling and his refusal to recuse himself from the case because of alleged bias.
Hartzenberg acquitted Basson, a former project leader of the defence force's project Coast, on a number of charges, including murder and fraud, after the judge upheld certain objections by Basson at the start of the trial against certain of the charges.
Basson was a chemical and biological warfare expert in the service of the South African National Defence Force during the apartheid era. He and 23 other generals were discharged in 1992.
In June 2003, the Pretoria High Court acquitted him on 46 criminal charges, including charges of murder, drug trafficking, fraud and theft.