George Bizos

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George Bizos (2014)

George Bizos (born November 15, 1927 in Kirani , Greece ; born as Giorgos Bizos ; † September 9, 2020 ) was a South African human rights attorney who defended Nelson Mandela in the Rivonia Trial from 1963 to 1964 .

Life

From Greece to South Africa

Bizos' father was Antonios Bizos, mayor of Vasilitsi on the Peloponnese peninsula. In 1941, George Bizos and his father helped seven New Zealand soldiers to flee to Crete from the German occupation forces in a small boat . They got into distress and were rescued by the British destroyer HMS Kimberley , which was on its way to the Battle of Crete . After the battle, Bizos was deposed in the British-occupied Egyptian city of Alexandria .

As a refugee, he was sent to South Africa with his father in August 1941 and ended up in Durban . His father erroneously gave his son's date of birth as November 14, 1928 - this date was also long regarded as the date of birth by Bizos himself. One of George Bizos's first impressions was watching rickshaw drivers being treated unworthily by their white customers. From Durban he took the train to Johannesburg . He was accepted into the local Greek community. The Sunday Times published an article about his fate in 1941. His mother and siblings later followed to South Africa. At first Bizos spoke neither English nor Afrikaans and worked in a Greek café until the teacher Cecilia Feinstein recognized him from the newspaper article and enabled him to go to school. In 1948 he was accepted into the Witwatersrand University , where he studied law. Bizos took courses there together with Nelson Mandela and other anti-apartheid fighters with whom Bizos befriended. In 1950 he obtained a Bachelor of Arts and in 1953 a Bachelor of Law .

Activities in the apartheid system

Bizos was inducted into the bar in 1954. Shortly thereafter, he was defending well-known opponents of apartheid , including Trevor Huddleston . He was a defender in the Treason Trial from 1956 to 1961 . From 1963 to 1964 he was - alongside Bram Fischer , Harry Schwarz , Joel Joffe and Arthur Chaskalson and Vernon Berrangé - one of the defense lawyers in the Rivonia Trial , in which Nelson Mandela, Walter Sisulu and other anti-apartheid fighters were charged with sabotage, among other things . You were sentenced to life imprisonment; the death penalty could also have been imposed. Bizos advised Mandela on the drafting of his closing speech, I am prepared to die, which was Mandela's last public speech until his release in 1990. He added the addition But if needs be - "If it has to" , in which Mandela expressed his willingness to die for his ideals , and thus achieved a softening of the statement. He later represented Mandela's then-wife Winnie Madikizela-Mandela in many legal disputes against the authorities. He also defended Bram Fischer on charges of conspiracy, sabotage and violating the Suppression of Communism Act . Because of his commitment against apartheid, Bizos was refused South African citizenship during this time.

Bizos has served as an attorney on numerous cases involving unsolved deaths in custody during the apartheid period . From 1985 to 1989 he defended Mosiuoa Lekota and Popo Molefe in the treason trial of the Delmas Treason Trial . Until 1990 he worked as a criminal defense attorney.

Working as a lawyer after the end of apartheid

Bizos was a member of the National Council of Lawyers for Human Rights , of which he was a co-founder in 1979. He was Senior Counsel at the Legal Resources Center in Johannesburg, where he headed the Constitutional Litigation Unit (German: “Department for Constitutional Processes”). From 1985 to 1993 he was a judge on the Court of Appeal in Botswana . In 1990, Bizos became a member of the Legal and Constitutional Committee of the African National Congress (ANC). At the Convention for a Democratic South Africa (CODESA), at which the departure from the apartheid system was negotiated, in the same year he acted as an advisor to the negotiating parties and helped draft the South African transitional constitution. He drafted numerous bills, notably the Truth and Reconciliation Bill, which led to the establishment of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) in 1996. He also made changes to the Criminal Procedures Act designed to guarantee fundamental human rights for all defendants.

In the TRC hearings, he led the group that represented the families of prominent apartheid victims, including the families of Steve Biko , Chris Hani , Ruth First, and the Cradock Four . The goal of preventing amnesties for those responsible was achieved in most cases.

George Bizos was appointed by then President Mandela in 1994 as a member of the Judicial Services Commission , which was supposed to nominate candidates for judicial offices and make proposals to abolish the laws from the apartheid period. Bizos achieved that the death penalty was abolished as unconstitutional. He also worked as an advisor to the National Assembly on constitutional certification by the South African Constitutional Court . In 2004 he represented Zimbabwean opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai , who was accused of plotting to assassinate President Robert Mugabe prior to the 2002 presidential election . Tsvangirai was acquitted.

In 2005, Bizos was Nelson Mandela's attorney in a lawsuit with his former attorney, Ismail Ayob. Before the Farlam Commission for the Legal Resources Center and the Benchmark Foundation, Bizos represented the families of the victims of the " Marikana Massacre ", which took place on August 16, 2012 and claimed 34 victims. In 2013 there was a legal battle between two daughters of Nelson Mandela and Bizos, the former ANC Minister Tokyo Sexwale and the lawyer Bally Chuene. The men were accused of illegally administering the € 1.3 million Mandelas Fund while they claimed they were employed by Mandela.

From 1954 Bizos was married to Arethe "Rita" Bizos, née Daflos, and had three sons.

He died on September 9, 2020 at the age of 92.

Others

In 1973 Bizos opened the Hellenistic and Greek Orthodox oriented school SAHETI ( South African Hellenic Educational and Technical Institute ) in Johannesburg, which was attended by students of all skin colors even during the apartheid era, including the children of Chris Hani. After the death of his wife in 2017 he donated the Arethe Daflos-Bizos Scholarships .

Honors

Posthumous appreciation

On the anniversary of Bizos's death, the South African President paid tribute to his work for a democratic South Africa:

"He had an incisive legal mind. He was one of the architects of our constitution."

“He had a keen legal mind. He was one of the architects of our constitution. "

- Cyril Ramaphosa , September 9, 2020

Works

  • 1998: No One to Blame - In Pursuit of Justice in South Africa. New Africa Books, Cape Town, ISBN 0-86486-319-5 .
  • 2009: Odyssey to Freedom. Autobiography. Random House Struik, Cape Town. ISBN 978-0-9584195-8-1 .
  • 2017: 65 years of friendship. Penguin Random House South Africa, Cape Town 2017, ISBN 978-1-4152-0886-1 .

Web links

Commons : George Bizos  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b George Bizos: 65 years of friendship. Penguin Random House South Africa, Cape Town 2017, ISBN 978-1-4152-0886-1 . Excerpts from books.google.de
  2. ↑ Information on Greek names , accessed on August 27, 2013
  3. ↑ a b c d Birthday tea with Bizos Mail & Guardian on November 16, 2008 (English), accessed on August 24, 2013
  4. ↑ a b c Hellenic ideals inspired anti apartheid fighter ( Memento from February 24, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) neokosmos.com on March 7, 2010 (English), accessed on August 25, 2013
  5. ↑ Portrait at sahistory.org.za (English), accessed on August 25, 2013
  6. ↑ Conflict over wealth: Even before Mandela's death there was a dispute over his legacy Tagesspiegel on April 17, 2013, accessed on August 25, 2013
  7. ↑ A great champion of democracy at iol.co.za on November 30, 2003, accessed on August 26, 2013
  8. ↑ Human rights advocate George Bizos has died. Retrieved September 9, 2020 .
  9. ↑ The school's official website , accessed August 25, 2013
  10. ↑ Ntsako Mashaba: George Bizos at this 92 Ramaphosa pays tribute . on www.power987.co.za (English)
personal data
SURNAME Bizos, George
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Bizos, Giorgos (maiden name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION South African human rights lawyer who defended Nelson Mandela in the Rivonia Trial from 1963 to 1964
DATE OF BIRTH November 15, 1927
PLACE OF BIRTH Kirani , Greece
DATE OF DEATH September 9, 2020