Apartheid-Era Death of Nobel Laureate Albert Luthuli Ruled Police Assault
Apartheid-Era Death of Nobel Laureate Albert Luthuli Ruled Police Assault
A South African court has overturned a 1967 apartheid-era inquest finding, ruling that Nobel Peace Prize laureate and African National Congress (ANC) leader Albert Luthuli's death was due to "assault" by policemen.
The original inquest had claimed Luthuli died after being hit by a train, a conclusion long disputed by activists and his family. This year, the South African government reopened inquests into several political activists' deaths from the anti-apartheid struggle, which ended in 1994, leading to this new ruling.
Judge Nompumelelo Hadebe specifically attributed Luthuli's death to a fractured skull, cerebral hemorrhage, and brain concussion "associated with an assault." She ruled this assault was carried out 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."
ℹ Luthuli served as president-general of the ANC from 1952 until his death, leading the anti-apartheid movement through its most challenging period, including the party's banning by the apartheid government.
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