Steve Biko (30), honorary president of the Black People's Convention, was found not guilty and discharged on a count of obstructing the course of justice and an alternative charge of subornation and perjury, in an East London Regional Court on 13 July.
There were cries of "Amandla" and clenched fist salutes from a crowded public gallery, when he was acquitted. The magistrate said in his judgement that the evidence given by the accused "was certainly far more satisfactory than that of the State witnesses."
The State claimed that before a sabotage trial in Grahamstown earlier in the year, Biko had instructed seven students to change their evidence to say they were forced to make false statements to the police.
