Biko, Steve

South African civil-rights leader. An active opponent of apartheid, he was arrested in August 1977, and died in detention on 12 September. Following his death in the custody of South African police, he became a symbol of the anti-apartheid movement. An inquest in the late 1980s found no one was to blame for Biko's death.

Five former security policemen confessed to being involved in Biko's murder in January 1997. They applied for an amnesty to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), the body charged with healing South Africa by exposing its past and laying foundations for a more peaceful future. The amnesty application angered Biko's family, and his widow challenged the legitimacy of the TRC in the Constitutional Court.