Former South African police minister Adriaan Vlok was handed a suspended 10-year prison sentence today after pleading guilty to charges of attempting to murder a black activist cleric in 1989.
State advocate Anton Ackerman told the Pretoria High Court the sentence would be suspended for five years.
Former law and order minister Adriaan Vlok speaks to journalists in Pretoria after his court appearance today. Photo: Reuters/Siphiwe Sibeko
Vlok, along with his former police chief Johann van der Merwe and three lower-ranking policemen pleaded guilty on a charge of the attempted murder of anti-apartheid activist Frank Chikane, now adviser to President Thabo Mbeki, by poisoning his underwear.
Last year saw Vlok, now deeply religious, wash the feet of the intended victim of the poison plot, Frank Chikane, in a gesture of atonement. Chikane was then secretary-general of the South African Council of Churches and is now a top adviser to President Thabo Mbeki.
Chikane, who nearly died in the assassination attempt and was in the court, has said he has forgiven Vlok, although he couldn't block his prosecution.
Vlok was minister of law and order from 1986-1989, when an estimated 30,000 people were detained.
He appeared before the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, but he never applied for protection from prosecution for the attempt on Chikane's life.
AP