WOUTER Basson, dubbed ?Dr Death? was on Monday acquitted on 15 out of 61 charges ranging from murder and fraud to drug trafficking.
Basson will still have to answer to 46 other charges ranging from murder and fraud.
Basson was acquitted during a brief hearing on Monday in the Pretoria High Court and the judge said he would provide reasons for his decision at a later stage.
Judge Willie Hartzenberg’s ruling followed an application for 43 of the 61 charges against Basson to be discharged on the grounds that the state had presented insufficient evidence to secure a conviction beyond a reasonable doubt.
Among the charges Basson was acquitted for were those relating to murder, incitement to murder and assault linked to the deaths of five men, along with attempted murder and alleged conspiracy to murder.
He was also acquitted on a charge relating to a chemical experiment on prisoners, along with three drug-related charges and three fraud charges.
Basson, a medical doctor who headed the former South African Defence Force’s sinister chemical and biological warfare programme in the 1980s and early 1990s, went on trial in October 1999.
He has pleaded not guilty to all charges against him.
Basson was on Monday morning released on the same bail conditions. He is scheduled to appear in court again on July 23. – AFP
OFF-SITE LINKS
The Centre for Conflict Resolution’s complete records of the trial of Wouter Basson at the University of the Cape Town
The Plague Wars
ZA *NOW:
Basson seeks acquittal on 61 charges March 14, 2001
?Basson took part in interrogation? February 28, 2001
Basson back in the dock January 31, 2001