3 August 1958 - The Treason Trial begins

In response to the adoption of the Freedom Charter at the Congress of the People, South Africa's Apartheid government had 156 people arrested - almost the entire executive of the Congress Alliance. They were charged with "high treason and a countrywide conspiracy to use violence to overthrow the present government and replace it with a communist state." The punishment for high treason was death. Find out more about the Treason Trial.