Tatane case postponed

File photo: Riot police surround and beat Ficksburg protester Andries Tatane.

File photo: Riot police surround and beat Ficksburg protester Andries Tatane.

Published Mar 22, 2013

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Free State - The case against seven policemen accused of killing protester Andries Tatane was postponed until March 28 by the Ficksburg Regional Court on Friday, SABC news reported.

It had been expected that they would apply for the charges to be dropped, SABC reported.

Two policemen testifying for the State had claimed they were threatened into making statements to the Independent Police Investigative Directorate.

Neither of them could identify any of the accused in a video of the protest, because they were wearing helmets, according to the report.

One State witness, officer Kabelo Pule, was discredited last year when he alleged that the police had used excessive force when restraining Tatane, but claimed in an internal hearing that the opposite had happened.

Tatane was killed on April 13, 2011, allegedly by police using rubber bullets, during a service delivery protest in Ficksburg.

Last year the case was postponed after the State cast doubt on its own witness, Captain Matshidiso Lesomola, who was an observer at the service delivery protest. - Sapa

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