3 S. Africans Freed in Biehl Slaying Case

Three men accused of killing Amy Biehl, the Newport Beach woman slain by a mob of black youths in South Africa last year, were freed Monday after posting $70 bail each, a development that left Biehl’s relatives saddened and worried the crime will go unsolved.

As court proceedings resumed Monday following a delay of about six weeks, the defendants walked out of the Cape Town courthouse into a small group of cheering supporters and family members, who raised bail when a court order prohibiting their release had expired.

“Personally, I didn’t expect it to be a bail situation, but I’m not surprised. I just never expected them to be actually prosecuted,” said Kim Biehl, 28, of Newport Beach, the sister of the slain Fulbright scholar. “It’s disappointing. We would all like to see some sort of justice served. Amy was a believer in justice.”

Biehl said she learned about the release early Monday morning from an Associated Press reporter who has been covering the case.

Amy Biehl, 26, who studied for a year at the predominantly black University of the Western Cape, was beaten and stabbed to death Aug. 25 while she was driving friends home to Guguletu, a township near Cape Town. The attack occurred two days before her scheduled return to the United States.

The Associated Press reported Monday that Mongezi Manqina, Mzikhona Nofemela and Vusumzi Ntamo were released after an attorney general’s order denying bail for the accused had lapsed.

Prosecutor Nollie Niehaus did not oppose the setting of bail at about $70 each, a relatively small amount for a violent crime. “I can’t say it will be in the interest of justice to keep them in custody,” Niehaus said.

The men, who are from one of Cape Town’s poorest townships, were ordered to return to court on Aug. 15.

The defendants are members of the student wing of the Pan-Africanist Congress, a militant black group that has openly avowed attacks on “settlers”--their term for whites.

Groups of youthful PAC supporters have taunted white passersby during the court proceedings, which began in November. They often shouted their notorious slogan: “One settler, one bullet.”

The Pan-Africanist Congress renounced armed struggle in January in order to take part in the historic all-race election in April. The party captured a modest 1.2% of the national vote, less than any other party.

The trial of the men was recently stalled for several weeks while Judge Gerald Friedman conducted a “trial within a trial” to decide whether the suspects’ statements should be admitted as evidence. Manquina has charged that he was beaten by police and forced to make a confession.

Earlier in the case, charges were dropped against three suspects because a witness was afraid to testify, and a 15-year-old suspect who was not jailed never showed up for his court appearance in November.

Amy Biehl, who was researching the role of women in the transition to majority rule, is believed to be the first American killed in South Africa’s political violence.

A U.S. Department of State official declined to comment Monday on the defendants’ release, saying the department has not received any official communication from South Africa concerning the Biehl case.

Consul Jacques Jordaan, of the South African Consulate in Los Angeles, said he sent a telex to South Africa immediately after hearing reports about the release.

The new South African constitution, which came into effect during the trial, stipulates that bail must be granted in all but extreme cases, Jordaan said.

Biehl’s parents spent Monday in Washington at a ceremony where their daughter, Molly, presented five awards to honor young social activists. The annual event is held by the Gleitsman Foundation.

Amy Biehl was remembered at the event for the work she did on behalf of democratic ideals in South Africa, said her father, Peter.

“We were feeling very inspired today. This sort of takes the steam out of it,” he said. “We’re extremely disappointed, but in the end, we were really not expecting convictions anyway.”

Peter Biehl said his family thought the prosecution was doomed even before Monday’s release because many witnesses, some of them young children, have been threatened by supporters of the accused.

Kim Biehl said she learned that one of the men was smiling as he emerged from the courthouse, but that the other two were subdued. She said she thought it was unlikely that they will show up at the next court appearance, but she added that she harbors no hatred over her sister’s murder.

“I can completely see how it happened. I do have some anger, but mostly it’s just sadness,” she said. “There is an entire lost generation over there, just like we have in our country. . . . It was a mob scene and a mob situation, and I’m just not sure that they have 100% certainty that they have the right people.”

Several funds have been set up in Amy Biehl’s name to encourage the pursuit of democratic ideals in South Africa and elsewhere, her father said. The latest is the Amy Biehl Foundation, which the family has established.