Today in History-June 12
The judge rejected charges of bribery1975: Indira Gandhi found guilty of corruption
England have
Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi has been barred from holding office for
six years after she was found guilty of electoral corruption.
But Mrs Gandhi rejected calls to resign and announced plans to appeal to
the Supreme Court.
The verdict was delivered by Mr Justice Sinha at Allahabad High Court. It
came almost four years after the case was brought by Raj Narain, the premier's
defeated opponent in the 1971 parliamentary election.
Mrs Gandhi, who gave evidence in her defence during the trial, was found
guilty of dishonest election practices, excessive election expenditure, and of
using government machinery and officials for party purposes.
The judge rejected more serious charges of bribery against her.
"The leadership of Mrs Gandhi is indispensable ."said in a Party
statement.
Mrs Gandhi insisted the conviction did not undermine her position, despite
having beenunseatedfrom the lower house of parliament, Lok Sabha, by order of
the High Court.
She said: "There is a lot of talk about our government not being clean, but
from our experience the situation was very much worse when parties
were forming governments".
And she dismissed criticism of the way her Congress Party raised election
campaign money, saying all parties used the same methods.
The prime minister has retained the support of her party, which issued a
statement backing her.
"The leadership of Mrs Gandhi is indispensable," the statement read.
After news of the verdict spread, hundreds of supporters demonstrated
outside her house, pledging their loyalty.
Indian High Commissioner BK Nehru said Mrs Gandhi's conviction would not
harm her political career.
"Mrs Gandhi has still today overwhelming support in the country," he
said.
"I believe the prime minister of India will continue in office until the
electorate of India decides otherwise".
Nelson Mandela: "I do not deny I planned sabotage"
1964: Nelson Mandela jailed for life
Artificially 1969:
The The leader of the anti-apartheid struggle in South Africa, Nelson
Mandela, has been jailed for life forsabotage.
Seven other defendants, including the former secretary-general of the
banned African National Congress (ANC), Walter Sisulu, were also given life
prison sentences.
Crowds gathered silently outside the court building in Pretoria's Church
Square waiting for the verdict to be handed down. Hundreds of police patrolled
the area.
The Rivonia trial - named after the suburb of Johannesburg where the
defendants were arrested - began eight months ago, with Mandela, 46, and his
co-defendants proudly confessing their guilt to plotting to destroy the South
African state by sabotage.
As members of the ANC - the main African nationalist movement - they have
campaigned for an end to the oppression of black South Africans.
But the movement was banned in 1960 following the Sharpeville massacre and
campaigners decided they had no choice but to resort to violent means.
Struggle for equal rights
Mandela - a lawyer by training - told the court earlier: "I do not deny
that I planned sabotage. I did not plan it in a spirit of recklessness nor
because I have any love of violence. I planned it as a result of a calm and
sober assessment of the political situation that had arisen after many years of
tyranny, exploitation and oppression of my people by the whites."
His co-accused included: Walter Sisulu, Dennis Goldberg, Govan Mbeki,
Raymond Mhlaba, Elias Mosoaledi, Andrew Alangeni - all ANC officials and Ahmed
Kathrada, the former leader of the Indian National Congress.
Lawyer for the defendants, Harold Hansen QC said: "These accused represent
the struggle of their people for equal rights. Their views represent the
struggle of the African people for the attainment of equal rights for all races
in this country."
But the judge, President Quartus de Wet, said he was not convinced by their
claim to have been motivated by a desire to alleviate the grievances of the
African people in this country.
Judge de Wet said: "People who organise revolution usually plan to take
over the government as well through personal ambition."
However, he stopped short of the imposing the supreme penalty of death.
The convicted men were cheered as they left court in a police lorry. The
crowd was dispersed without any serious incident.
Vocabulary:
unseat:to remove from office(免去席位)
sabotage:deliberate destruction(蓄意破坏)
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