A son of prominent South African anti-apartheid activist Steve Biko has told the BBC the family is confident a new inquest into his death 48 years ago will lead to the prosecution of those responsible.
Seen as a martyr in the struggle against white-minority rule, the Black Consciousness Movement founder died from a brain injury aged 30 almost a month after being arrested at a roadblock.
Police at the time said he had banged his head against a wall, but after apartheid ended in 1994, former officers admitted to assaulting him - although no one has been prosecuted.
Nkosinathi Biko, who was six when his father died, said the country could not move forward without addressing its violent past. It's very clear in our minds as to what happened and how they killed Steve Biko, he told the BBC after the first hearing was held at the High Court in Gqeberha on the 48th anniversary of his father's death.
It is alleged that Biko, who had been subject to a banning order that restricted his movements and other activities at the time of his arrest in 1977, was tortured by five policemen while in detention.
The new inquest comes five months after President Cyril Ramaphosa announced a judicial inquiry into allegations of political interference in the prosecution of apartheid-era crimes. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), set up in 1996, uncovered apartheid-era atrocities like murder and torture, but few of these cases progressed to trial.
Nkosinathi Biko emphasized that accountability for the past is vital for the nation's healing, stating, You cannot have the trauma that we had, the flow of blood in the streets orchestrated by a state against a people, and then you emerge with less than a handful of prosecutions ever being successfully made. The case is adjourned until 12 November.
Seen as a martyr in the struggle against white-minority rule, the Black Consciousness Movement founder died from a brain injury aged 30 almost a month after being arrested at a roadblock.
Police at the time said he had banged his head against a wall, but after apartheid ended in 1994, former officers admitted to assaulting him - although no one has been prosecuted.
Nkosinathi Biko, who was six when his father died, said the country could not move forward without addressing its violent past. It's very clear in our minds as to what happened and how they killed Steve Biko, he told the BBC after the first hearing was held at the High Court in Gqeberha on the 48th anniversary of his father's death.
It is alleged that Biko, who had been subject to a banning order that restricted his movements and other activities at the time of his arrest in 1977, was tortured by five policemen while in detention.
The new inquest comes five months after President Cyril Ramaphosa announced a judicial inquiry into allegations of political interference in the prosecution of apartheid-era crimes. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), set up in 1996, uncovered apartheid-era atrocities like murder and torture, but few of these cases progressed to trial.
Nkosinathi Biko emphasized that accountability for the past is vital for the nation's healing, stating, You cannot have the trauma that we had, the flow of blood in the streets orchestrated by a state against a people, and then you emerge with less than a handful of prosecutions ever being successfully made. The case is adjourned until 12 November.
