Anti-apartheid activist Steven Biko's beating death 20 years ago was simply a police interrogation that got out of hand, a former policeman testified Wednesday.
"It was not our intention to kill him," said ex-Maj. Harold Snyman, who also admitted that authorities tried to cover up the slaying.The testimony by Snyman, one of five former policemen implicated in Biko's death, opened one of the most anticipated hearings of South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission for apartheid-era crime. The five men are seeking amnesty, which Biko's family opposes.
South Africa's apartheid government labeled Biko a terrorist for declaring that blacks should take pride in their culture and fight to control their country. His killing at 30 provoked international outrage and mobilized the anti-apartheid movement at home.
Biko had been regarded as a black leader with new ideas to fill a vacuum created when the African National Congress was banned and its leadership, including now-President Nelson Mandela, was imprisoned.
Biko's friendship with journalist Donald Woods was the subject of the 1987 film "Cry Freedom," with Denzel Washington portraying Biko.
Snyman's amnesty application, which was introduced at the hearing, said police brought Biko in for questioning in hopes of getting enough evidence to imprison him for inciting violence.
Snyman said a scuffle broke out as the interrogation became increasingly confrontational.
He said that as police tried to handcuff Biko, one officer fell on him, sending his head into a wall.
"I was not exactly sure that he was really injured. I kept in mind that he might be trying to deceive us in order to escape further interrogation."
The thin, bespectacled Snyman testified that Biko spent at least a day in an apparently semiconcious state, shackled to a grill with his arms and legs spread.
Biko died on Sept. 12, 1977, after being transported 750 miles to Pretoria Central prison from Port Elizabeth in the back of a police Land Rover.