/ 18 June 2007

Four years on, state closes case in Boeremag trial

The state has finally closed its case in the Boeremag treason trial after more than four years, but it could take several months, if not years, for the defence to conclude its case.

Some of the defence advocates this week indicated that they intended launching an application for their clients’ discharge on some of the 42 charges against them.

The trial started in Pretoria’s Palace of Justice amidst great public interest and extremely tight security measures four years ago, but has since moved to the new Pretoria High Court building in Vermeulen Street with only a few family members and the occasional journalist attending.

Almost 160 witnesses have testified for the state, including several alleged co-conspirators and a police spy who claimed he had infiltrated the inner circle of the Boeremag.

The record of the trial so far alone consists of more than 28 000 pages.

The state alleges the 21 accused had been part of a right-wing plot to violently overthrow the African National Congress government and had been responsible for a series of bomb explosions, including an explosion at a railway line in Soweto in 2002, which resulted in the death of a woman in a nearby squatter camp.

The coup plot allegedly also included a plan to murder former president Nelson Mandela with a car bomb.

The accused have all denied guilt on the 42 charges, including high treason, terrorism, sabotage, murder, attempted murder, the illegal possession of explosives, firearms and ammunition and causing a series of explosions.

Thirteen of the accused are still in custody, including Herman van Rooyen and Rudi Gouws, who attend the trial in shackles after managing to escape from the cells at the high court and evading police for nine months before they were recaptured.

One of the accused, Herman Scheepers, died last month of a virus he had contracted in jail. One accused was married shortly after the trial started, but six of them have since been divorced.

All the accused have legal aid, with the trial already costing the Legal Aid Board far over R11-million to date.

Van Rooyen and Gouws on Monday caused titters from fellow accused and counsel when their advocate, Piet Pistorius, said they insisted on accompanying the court and counsel during an inspection of the fatal 2002 Soweto bombing later this week.

Some of the defence counsel said they were ”more than willing” to give up their places in the police helicopter, but the prosecution said the police had already indicated that it would not be possible to accommodate the accused.

Trail Judge Eben Jordaan made it clear that he would ”under no circumstances” endanger the lives of ”his people”, referring to his assessors.

The court earlier this year heard police evidence that documents discovered in the possession of Van Rooyen and Gouws during their re-arrest contained a further coup plot — this time starting with a form of ”ethnic cleansing”.

The documents set out not only a plan for a violent revolution aimed at securing an independent Boer state, but also a detailed plan to free other Boeremag accused from C-Max Prison.

The trial continues on Tuesday. — Sapa