Defence argues for Thulsie twins to be released

The State cannot keep terrorism accused twin brothers Brandon-Lee and Tony-Lee Thulsie behind bars while it puts its house in order, and should release them while it does so.

This was the assertion made by the twins’ defence advocate Annelene van den Heever in the Johannesburg Magistrate’s Court before magistrate Pieter du Plessis yesterday.

“Our rights in terms of Section 35 of the Constitution are being infringed while the State is busy investigating this matter,” Van den Heever said.

The Thulsies have been in custody since their arrest in July last year.

“The other issue is the social stigma of a terrorist which is attached to a person incarcerated while the police are still investigating their case,” said Van den Heever.

“I’m asking this court to strike the matter off the roll and the State can proceed with its investigation. When it is ready to properly charge the accused, it can re-institute proceedings,” Van Den Heever said, adding there was a “high degree of probability” the State would not be ready.

“What happens if there are hiccups down the line?” Van Den Heever asked Du Plessis.

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Advocate Chris MacAdam for the State has asked for a postponement until the last week in April so he may gather further information and obtain assistance from the US, the UK, Turkey, France, Mozambique, Kenya, and Switzerland.

Earlier this week, he said he would withdraw the charges against the two if the information did not come through in the time he was asking for.

Yesterday, MacAdam wondered if it was feasible to withdraw the charges now.

He said extensive bomb plans and propaganda generated by Islamic State (IS) were found on the accused’s phones, coupled with the fact they had tried to leave South Africa twice to join the IS, was not reasonable conduct.

MacAdam said the State was alleging the Thulsies were linked to an international terrorism organisation that recruited large numbers of people from all over the world and carried out a series of attacks throughout the world.

The matter was remanded to next week Wednesday for Du Plessis to consider the arguments.

– amandaw@citizen.co.za