A South African court has ruled that Nobel laureate Albert Luthuli's 1967 death was the result of an assault by apartheid police, overturning decades of claims that it was an accident.
An inquest held under the apartheid government concluded that Luthuli, the first African to win the Nobel Peace Prize, died after being struck by a freight train while walking along a railway line.
However, activists and his family had long expressed doubt about the findings, leading to the reopening of the case by South Africa's government earlier this year.
A judge stated that Luthuli, who was the leader of the then-banned African National Congress (ANC), died as a result of a fractured skull and a cerebral hemorrhage linked to an assault. His family welcomed this new judgment as a step toward restoring justice.
Luthuli won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1960 for his leadership in the anti-apartheid struggle and has been a significant figure in South Africa's history. The court's findings indicate that his death was attributable to actions taken by members of the apartheid-era security forces and railway company employees.
Judge Nompumelelo Radebe specified that evidence did not corroborate the earlier inquest findings from 1967 and highlighted the significant medical findings that pointed towards an assault rather than an accident.
Following the ruling, spokespersons for the Luthuli family and the ANC expressed hope that this would mark the beginning of broader justice for victims of apartheid-era crimes. The ruling corrects a “long-standing distortion of history,” acknowledging Luthuli's legacy and the brutal history of apartheid.
