The Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) reacted harshly on Friday to a charge of genocide laid against its head, Zackie Achmat, at the International Criminal Court earlier this week.
In the 59-page criminal complaint in the court in The Hague in The Netherlands, Achmat is accused of promoting the provision and use of antiretroviral (ARV) drugs to treat HIV. The charge was laid by Cape Town advocate Anthony Brink of the Treatment Information Group (TIG).
The TAC said in a short statement on Friday that it refuses to “waste public resources in dignifying Anthony Brink’s lunatic call” for the International Criminal Court to prosecute Achmat.
“Anthony Brink’s actions serve only to insult the rationality of all sane people and the difficult experiences of millions of people who live with HIV/Aids in the world,” the TAC said. “We therefore ask that the media not to call our organisation for comment on this as this is our official comment.”
Long-running battle
Brink’s action is seen as the latest attack in the long-running battle between the TAC and its arch-rivals, who vehemently oppose the use of ARVs. The TAC has been at the forefront of the battle to get the government to provide the drugs to HIV-positive people.
Brink has admitted that he received funding from a foundation set up by the controversial Dr Matthias Rath, who favours vitamins for the treatment of Aids.
In his complaint, Brink calls on the court to charge and find Achmat “guilty of genocide — the most serious crime of concern to the international community as a whole”. He alleges that Achmat has played a “direct criminal role in the deaths of thousands of South Africans from poisoning from so-called antiretroviral drugs”.
He has asked the court to impose the harshest sentence Achmat — “permanent confinement in a small, white, steel-and-concrete cage, bright fluorescent light on all the time to keep an eye on him”.
The TAC said on Friday it won’t be distracted from its current task — preparing to mobilise public support for the efforts of the South African National Aids Council and the government to develop a new plan for managing the HIV/Aids epidemic and saving lives in South Africa.
In the coming weeks, the TAC will announce its plans to support the development of South Africa’s 2007-2011 National Strategic Plan for HIV/Aids.