Apartheid enforcer spared jail

South Africa's apartheid-era police minister has been spared jail despite admitting attempted murder.Adriaan Vlok and four police officers received suspended sentences after pleading guilty to attempting to kill a leading black activist in 1989.Vlok and his former police chief Johann van der Merwe were given 10-year prison sentences, suspended for five years.The case has divided the nation, reopening the debate about justice and retribution for crimes committed during the era of white rule.Vlok said: "I think that we should really reconsider, sit down, discuss the whole thing again, see how we can move forward, because I'm concerned about forgiveness and reconciliation."The accused pleaded guilty to attempting to murder anti-apartheid activist and cleric Frank Chikane, now adviser to President Thabo Mbeki, by lacing his underwear with poison.Prosecutor Anton Ackermann insisted the case, 13 years after apartheid ended, was not driven by revenge and said that was reflected by the sentences, handed down after Vlok and the other defendants struck a plea bargain.Mr Chikane, who was made violently ill by the poison, said he hoped the case would help South Africa heal old wounds.The case was one of a handful to make it to court since the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), led by Nobel peace laureate Archbishop Desmond Tutu, ended its probe into crimes committed under apartheid. The TRC granted many people an amnesty from prosecution.© Independent Television News Limited 2007. All rights reserved.

ITN | August 17, 2007

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