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Percy Yutar

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Dr. Percy Yutar (29 July 1911, -13 July 2002, ) was ’s first Jewish attorney-general. Yutar was one of eight children in a family of Lithuanian immigrants. His father originally had the surname of Yuter before arriving in South Africa.[1]

Yutar began his career as a lawyer in Johannesburg and later became a junior law clerk in Pretoria’s Palace of Justice. In 1940, he was appointed a junior state prosecutor and eventually become the Deputy Attorney General for the Transvaal.

He prosecuted in the 1963 Rivonia Treason Trial and tried to get him executed. Nelson Mandela was sentenced to life imprisonment instead of a possible death sentence for sabotage as a result of the trial. Yutar was said to be indifferent towards .[1]

Decades later, Mandela displayed kindness towards Yutar. In November 1995, the then South African President Mandela invited Yutar to lunch, which included a kosher meal. Mandela agreed with Yutar that he [Yutar] had played a minor role in the conviction and was doing his duty as prosecutor. [2] Notes

1. ^ "Percy Yutar". The Scotsman . http://news.scotsman.com/topics.cfm? tid=1039&id=791052002. 2. ^ "Percy Yutar". The Guardian . http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/2002/jul/19/guardianobituaries2. Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Percy_Yutar" Categories: 1911 births | 2002 deaths | People from Cape Town | South African lawyers | University of Cape Town alumni | | Lithuanian Jews | South African people stubs | Jurist stubs

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