RIVONIA TREASON TRIAL

Eleven men - the number will almost certainly be increased - who were arrested at outside , are facing numerous charges under the General Law Amendment Acts of 1962 and 1963, the so-called Anti-Sabotage Law, and if found guilty are almost certain to be sentenced to death.

2 Sabotage under these laws does not necessarily imply acts of violence. Countless peaceful acts which were formerly lawful or constituted petty offences have now been made capital crimes carrying a minimum of 5 years imprisonment and a maximum sentence of death by hanging. In practice "Sabotage" in Means any form of opposition however mild to Nationalist tyranny.

3. From previous bitter experience in connection with the Mass Treason Trial of 156, which started in December 1956 and ended years later in an acquittal of all the accused, we know that the Nationalist Government will do everything in its power to secure a conviction. There is no trace left of the rule of law in South Africa and the courts of the land are being used unscrupulously to further the political ends of the Nationalist Party. The Rivonia trial will last many months and possibly years.

4. The people of Britain contributed 100,000 in the last Treason Trial and an equal amount was contributed by liberty-loving people in South Africa. We need Z25,000 immediately to ensure that the accused in the Rivonia Trial will get the best legal defence possible. These brave men, including who is already serving a sentence of 5 years imprisonment, and who is under sentence of 6 years imprisonment, must be saved from the -2- gal1ows at all costs.

COLLECTION NAME: Rivonia Trial Collection COLLECTION NUMBER: AD1844

ITEM NUMBER: C31

DOCUMENT: Notes in point form about the trial, annotated

LEGAL NOTICES

This document is part of a private collection, the Rivonia Trial Collection, donated to Historical Papers at The University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg.

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