Post-TRC Prosecutions in South Africa

Book excerpt: After the transition to democracy in 1994, South Africa implemented an innovative scheme at the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, granting perpetrators conditional amnesty. It essentially calls for the prosecution of those who did not receive amnesty for the crimes they committed during the apartheid conflict. This book provides the first comprehensive analysis of prosecutions after the amnesty process. Drawing on interviews with key protagonists and largely unpublished documents, the volume analyses trials and the political background. It scrutinises the issue in the normative framework of national and international human rights law, and addresses whether the prosecutions were adequately carried out. The study thus allows a concluding evaluation of the justice and consistency of South Africa’s internationally acclaimed amnesty process.