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S. Africa panel pardons killers of U.S. student
July 28, 1998Web posted at: 1:21 p.m. EDT (1721 GMT)
In this story:
CAPE TOWN, South Africa (CNN) -- Four men who beat and stabbed American student Amy Biehl to death have been granted amnesty, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission said Tuesday.
The action clears the way for Vusumzi Ntamo, Ntobeko Peni, Easy Nofemela and Mongezi Manqina, who are serving sentences of 18 years, to be released from prison.
Biehl, 26, a Fulbright scholar, was in South Africa to help with voter registration for the nation's first all-race election in 1994 that ended apartheid.
She died in 1993 in the Guguletu black township outside Cape Town when a crowd of blacks stoned her car, then beat, kicked and stabbed her. She died on a pavement begging for mercy.
The killing drew international attention to South Africa's racial violence.
Confession at last year's amnesty hearing
At their amnesty hearing last year, the four killers admitted killing Biehl and asked her family for forgiveness.
Ntamo, Peni, Nofemela and Manqina testified at their amnesty hearing that they believed their political leaders wanted them to attack whites -- also called "settlers" by black militants -- to highlight the grievances of blacks.
They cited the "one settler, one bullet" slogan of the Pan Africanist Congress, a radical black group.
The Truth Commission can grant amnesty for full confessions that shed light on abuses during the country's apartheid era, when the white-minority government clashed with black militants. The crimes must be deemed political.
| |
| Peter and Linda Biehl in court in 1997 | |
Parents support decision
Biehl's parents, who attended the amnesty hearing, said their daughter would have supported the commission's mission to resolve the nation's racial division.
Peter and Linda Biehl, in a statement Tuesday from their home in Newport Beach, California, said supported the amnesty decision.
"In the cases of the four amnesty applicants in Amy's murder, we hope they will receive the support necessary to live productive lives in a non-violent atmosphere. In fact, we hope the spirits of Amy and of those like her will be a force in their new lives," the Biehls said.
In their statement, they expressed hope that South Africans would be able to resolve their differences and learn to live in harmony.
"Amy was drawn to South Africa as a student and she admired the vision of Nelson Mandela of a 'Rainbow Nation.' It is this vision of forgiveness and reconciliation that we have honored," said the Biehls.
Biehls' parents urged South Africans to accept the decisions of the amnesty commission and to work to step up the pace of reconciliation.
"We must never forget people who lost their lives in the struggle," the Biehls said. "We must honor them in discovering new approaches -- non-violent partnerships -- to create the South African which Nelson Mandela, Amy and those who perished dreamed of -- a new, multi-racial, democratic nation."
The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.
