Former security branch police officer, Joao Rodriques, will make submissions in March detailing why the charges against him should be dismissed. The case relates to the 1971 murder of anti- apartheid activist Ahmed Timol. Initially, a 1972 inquest ruled Timol’s death a suicide. However, in 2018 the Pretoria High Court overturned this to murder.
“Rodriguez is using the time delay, the failure on the part of the TRC to have dealt with this matter in 1996 and also using my letter to the NPA in 2002 for this matter to be investigated so Rodrigues is using this time delays as an excuse ..that charges against him must be dropped, ” says Timol’s relative, Imtiaz Cajee.
Timol was pushed to his death from the 10th floor of the former John Vorster Square Police Station. The family wants the court to rule on this.
“There are two versions at play, Rodrigues’s version and our version, massive torture was inflicted….this is what we want to come out in a court of law. We want a court of law to rule on a correct version,” says Cajee.
The matter could set a precedent for other similar cases.
” Whats important about this case there is a real question of justice for the victims and their families . Another issue, many of the perpetrators of 81,82, this is an important year, ” says Foundation of Human Rights’ Yasmin Sooka.
The parties will be back in court on March 28th.
