* Photos show weapons appearing beside bodies
* Victims’ lawyer suggests there was bid to thwart justice
* Evidence raises questions about police conduct
* 34 miners killed by police in echo of apartheid violence
By Jon Herskovitz
JOHANNESBURG, Nov 6 (Reuters) – Photographs suggesting that
South African police planted weapons on the bodies of workers
shot dead by police at Lonmin’s Marikana platinum mine have been
shown to an inquiry into the bloodiest security incident since
apartheid.
In police photographs taken shortly after the killings on
Aug. 16, at least two dead workers are seen without weapons by
their sides. In photos taken later in the day, weapons including
spears and a machete are on the ground near the corpses.
The photographs, presented by the police as evidence to a
government inquiry this week, were seen by Reuters on Tuesday.
George Bizos, a respected attorney who once served as Nelson
Mandela’s lawyer and is now representing families of the
victims, told the commission there was a “prima facie case that
there was a deliberate attempt to defeat the ends of justice”.
Continued…
