PRETORIA October 3 1999 - SAPA
WOUTER BASSON'S TRIAL STARTS
Dr Wouter Basson, who headed the apartheid government's chemical and biological
warfare program, goes on trial on Monday in the Pretoria High Court. Basson, a
heart surgeon, faces 64 charges including 16 of murder and 24 of fraud involving
R80 million. He allegedly oversaw the development of poisons for government
assassins, including a muscle relaxant which caused victims to suffocate which
was used in the 1980s to kill over 200 South West African People's Organisation
members. Others Basson is accused of killing are five men who were thrown from
an aircraft into the sea after being injected with an overdose of muscle
relaxants. He was arrested in 1997 for possessing 1000 Ecstasy tablets, which he
allegedly produced at government expense and sold for private profit. The Truth
and Reconciliation Commission was told last year that Basson had set up a
military front company to produce cigarettes laced with anthrax, poisoned
chocolate and whiskey and sugar containing salmonella. The trial is expected to
last about 18 months. The case has been under investigation for two years.
© South African Press Association, 1999
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