Delmas Treason Trial

The Delmas Treason Trial (1985–1988) in South Africa was the prosecution of 22 anti-apartheid activists under security laws, with the intention of suppressing the United Democratic Front (UDF). The defendants included three senior UDF leaders, Moses Chikane, Mosiuoa Lekota and Popo Molefe, known as the "Big Three". Eleven of the accused were found guilty in the same courtroom where Nelson Mandela was found guilty. Just before the verdict, white supremacist spree killer Barend Strydom started to shoot people in the square outside the court. Their sentences were overturned in 1989 after an appeal to the Supreme Court. The trial was the longest in South African history at the time.