the rollback of south africa's biological warfare program
the rollback of south africa's biological warfare program
the rollback of south africa's biological warfare program
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South African court for crimes committed in ano<strong>the</strong>r country. He also ruled<br />
that Basson was indemnified from prosecution by <strong>the</strong> Namibian amnesty. The<br />
judge’s decision to throw out <strong>the</strong>se murder charges was a serious blow to <strong>the</strong><br />
prosecutions case, since <strong>the</strong> five murder charges were <strong>the</strong> only ones that placed<br />
Basson at <strong>the</strong> scene <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> crime. 208 These rulings meant that <strong>the</strong> prosecution<br />
would not be able to present accounts <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> CCB’s policies or methods <strong>of</strong><br />
operations, which might have helped in proving Basson’s motives in <strong>the</strong><br />
remaining 14 murder/attempted murder charges.<br />
The prosecutors were surprised by this ruling and have acknowledged<br />
that <strong>the</strong>se rulings hurt <strong>the</strong> State’s case. The ruling was surprising, because <strong>the</strong><br />
same prosecutors had used a similar approach in presenting evidence in an<br />
earlier case against Eugene de Kock, <strong>the</strong> former head <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> CCB. In <strong>the</strong> de<br />
Kock case, <strong>the</strong> defense had not challenged <strong>the</strong> prosecutors’ evidence.<br />
However, <strong>the</strong> Basson case is very different from that <strong>of</strong> de Kock where <strong>the</strong><br />
prosecution was able to obtain <strong>the</strong> cooperation <strong>of</strong> most <strong>of</strong> de Kock’s 25<br />
subordinates who testified against <strong>the</strong>ir former commanding <strong>of</strong>ficer. Dr. Torie<br />
Pretorius felt that ano<strong>the</strong>r important difference was <strong>the</strong> fact that he (Pretorius)<br />
had a close working relationship with local authorities and criminal<br />
investigators working for <strong>the</strong> Goldstone Commission in obtaining four<br />
witnesses for 100 <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> 176 murders counts against de Kock. What Pretorius<br />
learned from this experience was that <strong>the</strong> State would not win with only one<br />
cooperative co-conspirator, because <strong>the</strong> South African legal system was not set<br />
up to take on <strong>the</strong> old military establishment. In Basson’s case, <strong>the</strong>re are no<br />
multiple witnesses who can implicate Basson in specific murders. As Dr.<br />
Pretorius explained, “Basson was <strong>the</strong> only common denominator” in most <strong>of</strong><br />
<strong>the</strong>se conspiracy/murders. The lack <strong>of</strong> evidence explains why <strong>the</strong> State did not<br />
charge any <strong>of</strong> Basson’s superiors. According to Dr. Pretorius, <strong>the</strong> lesson to be<br />
learned for prosecutors attempting to win conspiracy/murder cases involving<br />
CBW use is that <strong>the</strong> prosecutor must be at <strong>the</strong> murder scene as soon as<br />
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