April 24, 1996 — Sapa

MOTHERWELL FIVE'S COUNSEL ACCUSES TRUTH COMMISSION OF BIAS

A defence counsel appearing in the Port Elizabeth Supreme Court for five men accused in the Motherwell car bombing on Wednesday accused the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of selective treatment towards the perpetrators of alleged human rights abuses, SABC radio news reported.

"Doep" de Bruyn was appearing for the five men accused of murdering three policemen and an informer at Motherwell in the Eastern Cape by booby trapping the car in which they were travelling.

De Bruyn said one of the accused, Gideon Nieuwoudt, had never been informed that he would be implicated by those giving testimony at the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

This was despite an assurance that everyone concerned would be advised by commission chairman Archbishop Desmond Tutu if they were implicated.

Evidence to the commission linked Nieuwoudt to the deaths of three Port Elizabeth civic activists and other Eastern Cape activists.


© South African Press Association, 1996
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