The Rivonia Trial Court is the trial of ten leaders of the African National Congress , apartheid in South Africa between 1963 and 1964 . Named at the place of arrest - Rivonia, a suburb of Johannesburg , and the trial itself took place in Pretoria . The famous speech of ANC leader Nelson Mandela, “ I am ready for death ”, delivered at the end of the meeting, demonstrated the impossibility of the accused to refuse their beliefs. The outcome of the process was the conviction of 8 people, in particular, Mandela's life sentence, from which he served 27 years.
Arrests
19 ANC leaders were arrested on July 11, 1963 at the Lilislif Farm owned by Arthur Goldreich. The farm was used as a shelter for members of the African National Congress. Among other things, ANC documents and Mandela diaries were found on the farm. Nelson Mandela moved to the farm in October 1961 and escaped his arrest, calling himself gardener and cook David Motsamai. Among those arrested were Walter Sisulu , Govan Mbeki , Raymond Mkhlaba, Andrew Mlageni, Elias Motsoaledi (trade union activist and member of the ANC), Ahmed Katrada, Billy Nair, Denis Goldberg (member of the Democratic Congress), Lionel Bernstein (member of UACP ), Arthur Gold farms), Harold Volpe, James Cantor and others. The ethnic composition of those arrested was different: white and black, Jews and Indians.
Nelson Mandela was added to the leaders of the ANC, brought to justice in a court in Rivonia, has already started serving a five-year term in Fort Johannesburg for inciting workers to strike and illegally leaving the country. The defendants were detained for 90 days, without trial and in complete isolation. Meanwhile, Goldreich and Volpe bribed guards and escaped from prison on August 11 .
Lawyers did not see their charges until the indictment of October 9 . The head of the defense group was Bram Fisher, assistants were Joel Ioffe, Arthur Chaskalson, George Bizos , Vernon Berranger and Harold Hanson. A separate team consisted of Hanson and Harry Schwartz to defend Cantor.
The presiding judge was Quartus de Vet, judge president of Transvaal . The chief prosecutor was Percy Utar, deputy attorney general of Transvaal.
The trial began on November 26, 1963 . After qualifying the first indictment as inadequate, on December 3 a new extended opinion was announced. Each of the ten defendants pleaded not guilty. The trial ended on June 12, 1964 .
Accused List
The list of defendants included 10 people:
- Nelson Mandela
- Walter Sisulu
- Denis Goldberg
- Gowan Mbeki
- Ahmed Katrada
- Lionel Bernstein
- Raymond Mkhlaba
- James cantor
- Elias Motsoaledi
- Andrew Mlangeni
Goldreich and Volpe managed to bribe the guards and escape from prison, then moving from South Africa to Swaziland and further to Botswana. He later managed to free himself and leave the country of Happy [1] .
Protection
Hilda Bernstein (Rusty Bernstein's wife), Albertina Sisulu ( Walter Sisulu's wife), Annie Goldberg (Denis Goldberg's mother) and Vinnie Mandela ( Nelson Mandela's wife) turned to lawyer Joel Ioffe for help. Joffe agreed to act as a lawyer for all the accused, except for Cantor, who demanded a separate lawyer, and Bob Hepple. Joffe, with lawyers Arthur Chaskalson and George Bizos, persuaded Bram Fisher to act as lead lawyer. Later, Vernon Beranger joined them.
The main group:
- Vernon Beranger
- George Bizos
- Arthur Chaskalson
- Bram Fisher
- Harold Hanson
- Joel Ioffe
Second, to protect Cantor:
- John cocker
- Harold Hanson
- George Lowen
- H.K. Nicholas
- Harry schwartz
Accusations
The list of charges included:
- hiring people to educate and train in the use of explosives and guerrilla warfare for the purpose of violent revolution and sabotage
- conspiracy to commit these acts and help foreign military units when they (hypothetically) invade the Republic
- aiding communism
- extortion and obtaining money to achieve these goals from sympathizers outside of South Africa, in Algeria , Ethiopia , Liberia , Nigeria , Tunisia and other countries.
In his opening remarks, prosecutor Percy Utar said there was enough ammunition to blow up a city the size of Johannesburg . By decision of the UN Security Council and all countries of the world, the court was declared illegal, which led to the introduction of international sanctions.
Nelson Mandela Speech
At the beginning of the trial, Nelson Mandela made a three-hour speech from the dock in which he explained and defended the ANC's key political positions. He justified the decision of this movement, due to growing restrictions on permitted political activity, to go beyond the use of constitutional methods and non-violent resistance, to launch a campaign of sabotage against property (with minimizing the risks of injuries and mortality), while at the same time training the military wing of the movement for possible future use. He also touched on some details of the relationship between the ANC and SACP in his speech, explaining that while these movements collaborate in the fight against the apartheid system, he believes in a model of constitutional democracy in South Africa and also supports a market economy rather than a communist economic model . Speech is considered one of the fundamental moments in the history of South Africa.
| All my life I devoted the struggle of the African people. I fight against the dominance of whites, and against the dominance of blacks. My ideal is a democratic free society in which all people will live in harmony and have equal opportunities. For the sake of this ideal, I live and hope to achieve its implementation. If necessary, in the name of such an ideal, I am ready to die. |
As Albertina Sisulu said, “deathly silence reigned during Nelson’s speech. When he declared that he was ready to die for the ideals of a democratic free society, the light faded in our eyes. Nelson gave himself to us all. He was crucified on the cross because he fought for the rights of his people ” [2] .
Result
The official prosecution did not request the death penalty. On June 12, 1964, the verdict was read out [2] . Eight defendants were sentenced to life imprisonment, Lionel Bernstein was acquitted. Goldberg spent twenty-two years in prison [1] .
Nelson Mandela spent twenty-seven years and eight months in prison (18 years in Robbeneyland ). He was released on February 11, 1990 .
Notes
- ↑ 1 2 How Jews Fought for Black Rights: South Africa. | Pages of Jewish culture and history (Inaccessible link) . Date of treatment February 13, 2014. Archived February 23, 2014.
- ↑ 1 2 Speech by Nelson Mandela | Institute for Social and Political Studies