Trespass charges against 18 members of South Africa's Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) have been withdrawn, the South African Press Association reported on Thursday.
The activists staged a five-hour sit-in at the offices of the trade and industry department in Cape Town earlier this year, as part of a nationwide protest for the distribution of HIV/AIDS drugs.
The TAC national manager, Nathan Geffen, said the group's actions had been driven by the belief that the government's response to the HIV/AIDS pandemic at the time was inappropriate.
He said TAC's decision to break the law had not been taken lightly.
The government has since announced a national treatment plan that will provide anti-AIDS drugs to some 5 million HIV-positive people.
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