CAPE TOWN, South Africa (AP) — A new inquest into of South African Nobel Peace Prize winner and anti-apartheid leader Albert Luthuli has found that he was beaten to death, and it rejected a previous finding that he died as a result of being hit by a train.
Thursday’s judgment by a court in the eastern city of Pietermaritzburg came after more than 50 years of suspicion that Luthuli was killed by apartheid police because of his leadership of the African National Congress that opposed the system of white minority rule.
The South African government reopened an inquest into his death in April as part of a move to investigate high-profile apartheid-era killings that were allegedly covered up by authorities at the time.
A 1967 inquest had ruled that Luthuli was hit by a freight train near his home and his death was accidental, a finding that has always been viewed with suspicion because of the apartheid government’s involvement in covering up the political killings of opponents.
A judge overseeing the new inquest said that the evidence showed that Luthuli died of head injuries consistent with an assault, and said a notorious police unit known as the Special Branch was likely responsible — working with employees of the South African railway company.
“This ruling brings justice, truth, and dignity to the memory of one of South Africa’s greatest sons and to all those who suffered under apartheid brutality,” said the African National Congress party, which has led South Africa since the end of apartheid in 1994.
Luthuli was the president of the ANC from 1952 until his death. Nelson Mandela served as his deputy president for six years. Luthuli was also the first African to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize when he was recognized in 1960 for his nonviolent struggle against apartheid.
The South African government into the apartheid-era deaths of political leaders and activists, after families have been calling for investigations for years. They include a new inquest into the death in police custody of in 1977.
South Africa’s post-apartheid government has also come under criticism for taking years to investigate the deaths, and into allegations that investigations were deliberately blocked by authorities, including by previous ANC governments.
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