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{{Short description|South African lawyer (1911–2002)}}
'''Percy Yutar''' (29 July 1911 – 13 July 2002) was a lawyer who became [[South Africa]]'s first Jewish [[attorney-general]]. He is most noted as the state prosecutor in the [[Rivonia trial]] in which anti-apartheid activist [[Nelson Mandela]] and seven others were convicted of sabotage and sentenced to [[life imprisonment]].▼
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2024}}
▲'''Percy Yutar''' (29 July 1911 – 13 July 2002) was a South African lawyer who became
== Early life ==
Percy Yutar was born in the [[Cape Town]] suburb of [[Woodstock, Cape Town|Woodstock]] to parents who had emigrated to South Africa from the ghettos of Lithuania, like the majority of the country's once-large Jewish community. His father's original surname was "Yuter".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.jewishgen.org/databases/Lithuania/ |title=JewishGen Lithuania Database |publisher=Jewishgen.org |date=
Yutar attended the [[University of Cape Town]] on a scholarship, and in 1937 received his doctorate in
== The Rivonia trial and apartheid ==
Yutar was the prosecutor in the 1963 [[Rivonia Trial]] against [[Nelson Mandela]] and nine others. Yutar charged the defendants with [[sabotage]] and [[conspiracy (criminal)|conspiracy]], instead of the more serious crime of [[treason]]. Mandela and seven others were convicted and two were acquitted. During sentencing, Yutar argued that the full weight of the law should be brought to bear on the defendants, but did not specify whether he believed the defendants should be executed or sentenced to prison. Since the death penalty was rarely used for sabotage and conspiracy, Justice [[Quartus de Wet]] sentenced the defendants to life in prison. Anti-apartheid activists condemned the guilty verdict, but were relieved that Mandela had not been charged with treason and would not be executed.<ref name=nytimes>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1995/06/07/world/south-africa-s-supreme-court-abolishes-death-penalty.html |title=South Africa's Supreme Court Abolishes Death Penalty |
During the trial, Yutar brutally cross-examined some of the defendants.<ref name=scotsman /> Yutar even carried out a hostile cross-examination of [[Alan Paton]], who had appeared in mitigation of sentence.<ref name=virginia /> Yutar accused the defendants of telling lies to the world that Africans in South Africa were oppressed. In truth, he said, Africans were peaceful, law-abiding and loyal to the regime.<ref name=guardian>{{cite news |first=Gerald |last=Shaw |url=https://www.theguardian.com/news/2002/jul/19/guardianobituaries2 |title=Percy Yutar, Obituary |
After the sentencing and conclusion of the trial, Yutar was lionised in the media as South
Years later, after the end of apartheid, Yutar claimed that his decision to charge the defendants with sabotage instead of treason had saved their lives. In his last recorded interview, he stated: "If I had merely even asked for the death penalty, the judge would have granted... They would have been named martyrs and that would have led to a hellish revolution, and a bloody civil war. And I have not the slightest doubt that I acted correctly, and saved this country." [[George Bizos]], one of the trial's defence lawyers, called
Mandela was released from prison in 1990. Negotiations to end apartheid culminated in South Africa's first free elections in 1994, in which Mandela and the African National Congress won a large majority, and Mandela became president. In 1995, President Mandela invited Yutar to a [[Kosher]] lunch, and allegedly said that
== Legacy ==
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==References==
{{
==Further reading==
*{{cite book |last=Joffe |first=Joel |year=2007 |title=The State vs Nelson Mandela - The Trial that Changed South Africa |url=https://archive.org/details/statevsnelsonman0000joff
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[[Category:2002 deaths]]
[[Category:Politicians from Cape Town]]
[[Category:20th-century South African lawyers]]
[[Category:University of Cape Town alumni]]
[[Category:South African Jews]]
[[Category:South African people of Lithuanian-Jewish descent]]
[[Category:South African white supremacists]]
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