Pretoria – The convicted Boeremag family, father Lets Pretorius and his two sons, doctors Wilhelm and Johan Pretorius, lost their legal bid to be freed from jail.
The three feel their legal rights were trampled on during and after their trial which started in 2003 and lasted a decade. They were among a group of 21 men sentenced in 2013 on charges relating to high treason.
They are serving jail sentences of between 20 and 25 years at the high security Zonderwater Prison outside Cullinan, east of Pretoria. They earlier turned to the Gauteng High Court, Pretoria, for an order declaring their convictions, sentences and incarceration null and void.
They wanted the prison authorities to immediately and unconditionally release them from jail. In the alternative, they asked to be released on condition they won’t flee the country, pending the decision of the International Human Rights Committee, due to hear their complaints that they were unfairly treated during their trial.
Their advocate, Professor Hercules Booysen, said if one took into account the time they have spent in jail following their arrest and subsequent sentence, they have been âunlawfullyâ incarcerated for about 21 years.