Apartheid-era germ warfare expert Wouter Basson on Monday pleaded not guilty to six charges of unethical conduct.
A hearing of the Health Professions Council of South Africa into Basson’s activities during his time as head of the apartheid government’s chemical and biological warfare programme started on Monday, almost seven years after charges were first brought against the cardiologist.
The process had been delayed by a 31-month criminal trial and subsequent appeals.
The charges relate to alleged violations committed in the 1970s and 1980s when Basson, a medical doctor, headed the apartheid government’s chemical and biological warfare programme, Project Coast.
The top-secret programme included attempts to develop bacteria to kill Africans or make them sterile.
Basson was acquitted in 2002 of murder, drug trafficking, fraud and theft.
The six charges include that he performed tests in the absence of any approved medical-research guidelines, that he manufactured incapacitating drugs and gases and that he made available suicide capsules containing cyanide to specialised units.
He pleaded not guilty and his counsel, advocate Jaap Cilliers, SC, explained Basson’s not-guilty plea to the court.
Cilliers said they would not dispute many of the facts contained in the charges, but rather argue on the ethical issues arising from them. – Sapa