S.A. poet gaoled for nine years

Press, Volume CXV, Issue 34012, 28 November 1975, Page 13

S.A. poet gaoled for nine years

(N.Z.P A.-Reuter—Copyright > JOHANNESBURG, November 27. A poet, Breyten Breytenbach. described at his trial as “a son of South Africa,” has been gaoled for nine years for attempting to overthrow its Government.

After a three-day trial dur-| ing which the 36-year-old Breytenbach’s plea of guilty to charges of terrorism was accepted by the State, Judge Petrus Cillie said: “In the circumstances of today and in the climate now prevailing, what you did was a serious threat to the safety of the State and for the peaceful co-existence of the community.” The Afrikaner poet, arrested during a clandestine visit to South Africa in August from self-imposed exile in Paris, apologised during his trial “for the stupid things I have done.” What had been expected to be one of the most sensational trials in recent South African history turned almost into a mere procedural trial after his plea of guilty on the first day. He admitted being an act-

live supporter of the banned! African National Congress; (A.N.C.) and a co-founder of a white anti-aoartheid movement called “Atlas,” which aimed at the overthrow of the South African Government. From that point he began exchanging jokes with his guards, winking and smiling at his South African friends in the gallery, and shook hands with the head of State Security, General Mike Geldenhuys. Shortly before sentence was passed, Dr Percy Yutar, the Attorney-General for the Transvaal. announced in Court that all the people detained in connection with the I Breytenbach case would be ‘released immediately. i The police swoops which i came after Breytenbach’s arIrest netted more than a dozen 'people, many of them to be'come witnesses for the State.