Boeremag sentences shock family 2013-10-29 22:49 Gallery | click on thumbnail to view larger image Boeremag members sentenced Twenty Boeremag members convicted of high treason have been sentenced to between 5 and 30 years in the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria. See all the pictures. READ MORE STORIES ABOUT Boeremag rss Boeremag sentences shock family Prosecutor, defence happy Boeremag trial is over Govt welcomes Boeremag sentencing Boeremag leader surprised by 25-year sentence Varying sentences for Boeremag members Judge: Boeremag could have caused bloodshed Boeremag sentencing under way Boeremag sentencing to begin Boeremag accused not dangerous - lawyers Pretoria - A lone rightwinger shouted we will overcome while relatives of some Boeremag men sobbed quietly on Tuesday after sentencing in the first post-apartheid treason trial. Judge Eben Jordaan said the trial in the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria had been unique. No other court since South Africas first democratic elections in 1994 ever had to determine sentences for men who tried to destroy the countrys fragile democracy by overthrowing the government. The treason trial is the result of a far rightwing coup plot in the early 2000s to violently overthrow the African National Congress-led government. The plotters planned to chase non-whites out of the country and replace the government with military Boer leadership. The plan included active steps to kill former president Nelson Mandela with a landmine in October 2002 while he was on his way to open a school in Bolobedu, Limpopo, to trigger chaos in the country. Jordaan said if Mandela had not arrived by helicopter there would have been large-scale bloodshed. He sentenced Boeremag military leader Tom Vorster and bomb squad members Herman van Rooyen, Rudi Gouws, Johan Pretorius and his brother Wilhelm to in effect 25 years imprisonment. Gouws, who was once on the run for eight months after escaping from the court cells in 2006, wiped away tears after hearing his fate. Van Rooyen was not in court after refusing to be transported in an armoured vehicle, which he claimed gave him panic attacks because of his fear of confined spaces. The court earlier turned down his bid to be transported to court in an ordinary car. Broken with past Kobus Pretorius, who was the Boeremags master bomb maker, was sentenced to 20 years imprisonment. The court accepted his evidence that he had broken with the past and deeply regretted what he did. Kobus no longer talked to his brother or his father, Dr Lets Pretorius, who was also sentenced to 20 years imprisonment. He appeared shocked at his sentence, holding his head in his hands and seemed to be fighting back tears. Dr Pretoriuss wife Minnie was inconsolable and sat in court crying long after the trial had adjourned. Boeremag leaders Mike du Toit and Dirk Hanekom were each sentenced to in effect 20 years imprisonment. Andre du Toit and Dion van den Heever were given 10-year sentences and Rooikoos du Plessis and Jurie Vermeulen five-year sentences. Boeremag chaplain Vis Visagie, 74, was sentenced to five years imprisonment, but prison authorities could convert his sentence to correctional supervision at any time. 5 freed The only five Boeremag members to walk out of court as free men were Boeremag weakling Adriaan van Wyk, the Boeremags youngest member Jacques Gouws who was only involved in the coup plot for a few days, and former defence force members Giel Burger, Jacques Olivier and Pieter van Deventer. The court did not sentence the ailing Fritz Naude, who is in a nursing home after suffering a series of strokes. Jordaan said some of the accused, who had been in jail for between 10 and 11-and-a-half years, only had themselves to blame as their former co-accused, Dawie Oosthuizen, had already been free for a long time after pleading guilty. He said most of the Boeremag members had misled the court with denials over the past decade. Van Rooyen had taken the initiative and led his band of bombers from violent crime to violent crime. Soweto mother Claudia Mokome was killed in one of the explosions, several people were injured and millions of rands of damage was caused to infrastructure and buildings. Jordaan said not even the death of a woman had stopped Van Rooyen. He continued plotting to overthrow the government after escaping from custody halfway through the trial. He ordered his men to shoot any policemen who tried to arrest them and reconciled himself with the idea of massive bloodshed. He was present during meetings where the coup plot and the death of traitors were discussed. Utter racist Jordaan said it was clear from Johan Pretoriuss diaries that he was an utter racist and a religious fanatic who took part in manufacturing and planting bombs. He dismissed the bomb squads claims that they were soldiers involved in a war, saying even soldiers were not supposed to kill innocent people. Jordaan stressed that every citizens rights were protected by the Constitution and the use of violence could never be condoned. He stressed that the accused were a small group of individuals who had failed to prove that they were being oppressed. They had committed serious crimes against a democratically-elected government.
Posted on: Wed, 30 Oct 2013 05:43:38 +0000
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