Johannesburg - South Africa's Truth Commission yesterday pardoned an apartheid torturer, but refused amnesty to four former policemen who helped to kill Steve Biko, an icon of the struggle against white rule.
Mr Jeffrey Benzien, a captain in the police force, was granted amnesty for the 1987 shooting of a popular African National Congress activist, Ashley Kriel, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission said in a statement.
Mr Benzien, who horrified the court with his demonstration of the "wet bag" torture, was given amnesty from future prosecution for the torture of others including Mr Tony Yengeni, now chairman of the parliamentary defence committee.