Death sentence for soldier in Namibia

Press, 10 December 1983, Page 37

Death sentence for soldier in Namibia

NZPA-Reuter Windhoek

A black former member of a South African-con-trolled military unit that has been accused of atrocities has been sentenced to death for the murder of a civilian. It is the first time that a member of the South African security forces has been sentenced to death for crimes committed in the war zone.

The Supreme Court in Windhoek sentenced Jonas Paulus, aged 23, to be hanged for the murder of an elderly man in Ovamboland, the northernmost province of Namibia and focus of the bush war between South African forces and guerrillas of the South-West Africa People’s Organisation (S.W\A.P.O.). Paulus was a member of

Koevoet, a special military unit made up mostly of blacks. Its mission, the Court was told, was to find and destroy S.W.A.P.O. guerrillas among the small black villages in the war zone bordering Angola. Lawyers and some political leaders have documented in Court papers allegations of widespread torture and brutal treatment of villagers by the Koevoet forces.

Another former Koevoet member, Paulus Matheus, aged 22, who is also black, was sentenced to 12 years imprisonment on charges of attempted murder, rape, and armed robbery in connection with the same incident.

In addition to the death sentence, Jonas Paulus was sentenced to 21 years in

prison for his part in the rape and robbery. The crimes occurred on the night of January 2 this year when the two men visited several Ovambo “kraals” or settlements “in search of money and girls,” according to evidence. During one of the sprees of robbery and rape, Paulus killed an elderly man in front of witnesses.

Imposing the death sentence, Judge Johan Strydom said he had a duty to protect the people of Namibia.

Paulus said during the trial that when Koevoet went in search of S.W.A.P.O. members, villagers were interrogated brutally. “If they won’t give us information, one of our group assaults them . . . beats them with a rifle butt,” he said.