South African expert cites signs of severe injuries in Steve Biko case
In South Africa, at a reopened inquest into the death of Black Consciousness movement leader Steve Biko, a forensic expert reported evidence indicating repeated severe beatings before his death. As TimesLIVE writes, Biko suffered a brain injury consistent with blunt-force trauma.
Biko died in police custody during apartheid. The columnist notes that he was the 20th political detainee to die in police custody within 18 months. The then minister of justice, Jimmy Kruger, claimed that Biko had allegedly starved himself to death.
The police version
In 1997, police officers who applied for amnesty from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission said that Biko had attacked one of them. According to their version, he hit his head against a wall during the confrontation.
In 1999, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission denied amnesty to the officers involved in Biko's death and recommended their prosecution. The commission stated that the killing did not meet the political-objective requirement necessary for amnesty. It also found the officers' version of the events preceding Biko's death implausible and contradictory.
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Other reopened investigations
The column also mentions the cases of other detainees who died. A reopened inquest in 2017 established police responsibility for the death of teacher Ahmed Timol. According to Judge Billy Mothle's finding, Timol was tortured before he fell or may have been pushed from the upper floor of the John Vorster Square police station.
In 2022, a new hearing in the case of doctor and trade union activist Neil Aggett found that his death was caused by the actions of security service officers. Earlier apartheid-era inquests into the cases of Timol and Aggett had ruled their deaths to be suicides.
According to the TimesLIVE author, Justice Minister Mamoloko Kubayi authorized state funding for the Biko family's legal costs at the reopened hearing. The columnist also raised the question of why the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's recommendations to prosecute representatives of the apartheid regime had not been implemented.
