The Treason Trial

• In 1956, the South African government arrested 156 people, all supporters of the Freedom Charter, and accused them of high treason.
• The government wanted to prove that the Treason trialists were were communists and were planning an armed revolution.
• The Treason Trial, as it became known, lasted from 1956 to 1961 and became an extreme embarrassment for the government.
• Charges against the 165 of the Treason Trialists were soon dropped and all the remaining accused were found not guilty in 1961.