The State conceded yesterday it was in possession of a privileged document confiscated from three Boeremag treason trialists in prison last year.

Earlier, the three told Judge Eben Jordaan their trial could be jeopardised by the fact that the document was in State hands.

Harry Prinsloo, for the men, said it contained instructions from brothers Mike and Andre du Toit and Jacobus (Rooikoos) du Plessis to their legal representatives.

The document was among several seized at the Pretoria local prison on October 28 under a warrant issued on the suspicion that the men had documents on the continuation of a plot to overthrow the government and commit terror.

Prinsloo asked the court to find that the document was indeed privileged and had therefore been wrongly confiscated.

This could give him grounds to contest the legitimacy of the trial.

After the lunch break, Prinsloo told Jordaan the State had conceded the document was a privileged one.

Chief prosecutor Paul Fick earlier disputed whether the document contained instructions, saying it was written in the third person, had no author and was not addressed to anybody.

The two parties will present arguments today on whether the trial would be prejudiced by the State's possession of the document.

Twenty-two alleged members of the rightwing Boeremag organisation stand accused of plotting to overthrow the government with the aim of declaring a "Boer" republic.

They face 42 charges, including murder, attempted murder, high treason, and a range of violations of arms, ammunition and explosives laws.

The trial was scheduled to have started in May, but has been delayed by wrangling over legal aid and several pre-trial applications by the defence. – Sapa.