BBC News is reporting that South African Apartheid assassin Eugene de Kock has been given parole after serving 20 years in prison. De Kock, 66, was nicknamed ‘Prime Evil’ for killing and maiming activists fighting white rule in South Africa during the 1980s and early 1990s. The former colonel was head of the notorious Vlakplaas police unit and admitted to more than 100 acts of murder, torture and fraud during the Truth and Reconciliation Commission hearings.
In 1996, De Kock was sentenced to two life terms in prison and a further 212 years for his crimes. Justice Minister Michael Masutha said De Kock would be released “in the interests of nation-building.”
The author writes:
“Sandra Mama, widow of Glenack Mama who was killed by De Kock in 1992, said she thought the minister was right in granting parole.
‘I think it will actually close a chapter in our history because we’ve come a long way and I think his release will just once again help with the reconciliation process because there’s still a lot of things that we need to do as a country,’ she told the BBC.”
Read more at BBC News.
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