‘Dr Death’ judge accused of bias

Pretoria – A senior prosecutor in the trial of apartheid-era germ warfare expert Wouter Basson told the Pretoria High Court yesterday that he was wasting his time by presenting legal argument because the judge had already decided that Basson was innocent.

Anton Ackermann, a deputy director of public prosecutions, alleged that Judge Willie Hartzenberg had decided 18 months ago that Basson was innocent.

“It served no real purpose to present legal argument, as it was the perception of the State that the judge could not be convinced of Basson’s guilt,” Mr Ackermann said. Judge Hartzenberg, who repeatedly asked Mr Ackermann to tell him why Basson’s version could not possibly be true, said Mr Ackermann was being unfair and that he could not understand why the prosecutor had became so annoyed.

Early in the trial, Mr Ackermann applied unsuccessfully to have Judge Hartzenberg recuse himself from the trial, claiming that he was biased. Mr Ackermann said he would not present argument on the credibility of witnesses as the judge had already made up his mind that none of them were credible.

Basson has denied guilt on 46 charges of murder, conspiracy, fraud and of illegal drugs. – Sapa