Sawt Falasteen - S.Africa court rules ANC leader Luthuli was killed in apartheid 'assault'

A formal inquest by the apartheid government claimed in 1967 that Luthuli -- who in 1960 became the first African to win the Nobel Peace Prize -- had died after being hit by a goods train while walking on a railway line.

But activists and his family had long cast doubt on the findings, and South Africa's government this year reopened inquests into the deaths of several political activists in the struggle against the white-minority apartheid regime, which was removed in 1994.

"It is found that the deceased died as a result of a fractured skull, cerebral haemorrhage and concussion of the brain associated with an assault," Judge Nompumelelo Hadebe ruled.

The judge said Luthuli's death was attributable to "assault by members of the security special branch of the South African police, acting in concert and in common purpose with employees of the South African Railway Company".

She set aside the findings of the 1967 inquest and named seven men, whose whereabouts could "not be ascertained", as having committed or being complicit in the murder.

They included a locomotive driver, a fireman, a station master and two railway police officers.

- Calls for justice -

Luthuli served as president-general of the African National Congress (ANC) from 1952 until his death and led the anti-apartheid movement during one of its most challenging periods, including its banning by the apartheid government.

During his Nobel Prize acceptance ceremony in Oslo in 1961, he made a passionate plea for non-violence.

The ANC in a statement Thursday welcomed a "historic judgement" that "corrects a long-standing distortion of history" by recognising that Luthuli was "a victim of state-sanctioned murder".

"It is a moral victory not only for his family but for all martyrs of our struggle whose lives were cut short by the cruelty of apartheid," the party said.

Luthuli's grandson Sandile Luthuli told local television EWN that the family were "elated" with the judgement.

"The prosecution's team very meticulously pointed to the institutionalisation of apartheid and the role that those institutions played in the cover-up of the murder of Chief Albert Luthuli," he said outside the court, indicating they would consider next steps.

The National Prosecuting Authority announced in April it would reopen inquests into the deaths of Luthuli and another anti-apartheid activist, lawyer Mlungisi Griffiths Mxenge, in an "endeavour to address the atrocities of the past".

A Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) was created in 1996 to expose crimes committed under apartheid. It held 2,500 hearings over two years with the possibility of offering amnesty.

The process only resulted in a few trials, and rising calls for justice pushed the government to reopen investigations into several cases this year.

X.Habash--SF-PST