Percy Yutar

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Percy Yutar (born July 29, 1911 in Cape Town , † July 13, 2002 in Johannesburg ) was a South African public prosecutor . He represented the indictment in the Rivonia Trial , in which opposition leaders like Nelson Mandela were sentenced to life imprisonment in 1964.

Life

Yutar was one of eight children of a Jewish immigrant family from Lithuania whose original family name was Yuter . Percy Yutar was born in Woodstock, Cape Town, and grew up in a modest family. His father ran a slaughterhouse. Percy Yutar's left hand was mutilated in an accident at his father's company. He studied law at the University of Cape Town on a scholarship and received his doctorate in 1937. In the context of growing anti-Semitism in South Africa at that time , he was only able to work in a post office as an employee, later in a subordinate position as a lawyer in Pretoria . In 1940 he became the first Jewish public prosecutor in South Africa. He later became Deputy Attorney General in the Orange Free State and then in the Transvaal . Yutar was popular with the security forces for his relentless persecution of opposition members.

From 1963 to 1964, Yutar was a prosecutor in the Rivonia Trial, in which eleven leading resistance fighters, including Nelson Mandela and Walter Sisulu , were accused of sabotage . In preparation for the trial, he used files in the headquarters ( The Grays ) of the security service at the time, in Johannesburg, which contained large amounts of materials collected during police raids. Yutar also used his research at this location to prepare for the trial of the young police officer Johannes Arnoldus Greef, who helped political prisoners Moosa Moolla , Abdulhay Jassat , Arthur Goldreich and Harold Wolpe to escape from the prison at the Marshall Square Police Station . The negotiations against the police officer with his sentencing to 6 years in prison are seen as an example in the run-up to the Rivonia trial. Percy Yutar described the case of Greef as the act of a police officer "who succumbed to the evil machinations of traitors who were planning a violent, diabolical revolution in the country, a conspiracy by all military means".

He brutally cross-examined some of the defendants as well as Alan Paton , who was merely an advocate for the defendants. In his remarks, he regretted that the defendants had not been charged with high treason , which would have resulted in the death penalty . Eight of the accused were sentenced to life imprisonment. After the end of apartheid , Yutar claimed to have saved the defendants' lives by not insisting on a charge of high treason - but sabotage could also be punished with death. Mandela invited him to dinner in 1995 and stated that Yutar was only doing his duty to represent the prosecution.

Yutar was promoted to General Attorney in 1974 . In 1976 he resigned and became a barrister in Johannesburg. In the Cillie Commission founded to clarify the uprising in Soweto , he led the hearing of witnesses.

Yutar's behavior in the courtroom was described as "malicious" as well as "flamboyant and aggressive," and his language as "flowery". He was seen as rather apolitical and indifferent to apartheid.

He was chairman of the United Hebrew Congregation in Johannesburg for eleven years . He died after a stroke and a heart attack . He was married to the musician Cecilia Yutar for over 50 years, with whom he had a son.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f g Obituary in The Scotsman of July 23, 2002 (English), accessed August 15, 2014
  2. ↑ a b c Obituary for Yutar in The Guardian, July 19, 2002 , accessed August 15, 2014
  3. ↑ Ruth First : Captive Courage. 117 days in a South African prison . Frankfurt am Main 1991, pp. 27–31, Yutar quote on p. 30
  4. ↑ Yutar's statement at the end of the Rivonia Trial , accessed on August 15, 2014
  5. ↑ Description at sahistory.org.za , accessed on July 31, 2015
  6. ^ Report from The Jewish Chronicle , accessed August 15, 2014
personal data
SURNAME Yutar, Percy
BRIEF DESCRIPTION South African prosecutor
DATE OF BIRTH July 29, 1911
PLACE OF BIRTH Cape Town
DATE OF DEATH July 13, 2002
Place of death Johannesburg