更新时间： 2026年3月24日 / 美国东部时间上午7:10 / CBS/美联社
周一，南非最臭名昭著的种族隔离时期警察指挥官之一在一场调查中作证，该调查涉及1985年四名活动人士被杀害的案件。这是南非重新聚焦于安全部队在数十年强制种族隔离期间犯下的、未受惩罚的暴行的一部分。
被称为”头号恶魔”的尤金·德科克（Eugene de Kock），因在杀害反种族隔离活动人士中扮演的角色而得名。他否认参与了著名的”克拉多克四人组”案件，但表示当时警方有大约6000名被描述为”已知恐怖分子”的反种族隔离活动人士的照片，如果无法逮捕，这些人就应该被追踪并杀害。
他说，克拉多克四人组不在其中。马修·戈尼韦（Matthew Goniwe）、福特·卡拉塔（Fort Calata）、西塞洛·姆拉乌利（Sicelo Mhlauli）和斯帕罗·姆孔托（Sparrow Mkonto），其中三人是教师，被警方在一个路障处绑架并杀害。他们的尸体被发现时已被烧毁，这是种族隔离时代最令人震惊的案件之一。
德科克作证称，一名涉嫌参与谋杀的警察曾请求他协助掩盖真相。
“他想知道我是否能弄到另一支枪，”德科克说，并补充说有人问他”我们是否能干扰弹道证据”。
种族隔离期间，德科克是一个特种反叛乱警察部队的指挥官。1996年，他因绑架、折磨和杀害活动人士的罪名被判处两个终身监禁，外加212年监禁。他于2015年获假释出狱。
据英国广播公司新闻报道，他的父亲劳伦斯·德科克（Lawrence de Kock）曾是一名地方法官，也是前种族隔离时期总理约翰·沃斯特（John Vorster）的亲密私人朋友。英国广播公司报道称，他的兄弟沃西·德科克（Vossie de Kock）形容他是个”安静的男孩”，”一点也不暴力”。
据英国广播公司报道，德科克向一些受害者家属请求原谅。在他写给贝基·姆兰格尼（Bheki Mlangeni）家人的信中（他用字母炸弹杀死了这位律师），他写道：”没有什么惩罚比不得不承受最可怕行为的后果，却无人原谅你更严厉的了。对我来说，即使是死亡也无法与之相比。”
现年77岁的德科克在前往南部城市克贝哈（Gqeberha）的法庭时，受到了警察的护卫。人权基金会（代表一些受害者家属）称，在法官裁定不展示他的形象后，官方播出的视频中对他的图像进行了模糊处理。
种族隔离期间进行的两项调查被广泛怀疑是掩盖真相。1987年开始的一项调查发现这些人是被身份不明的人杀害的。1993年开始的另一项调查发现，他们是被身份不明的警察杀害的。
最新的调查是在家属施压后于去年启动的。尽管在20世纪90年代末南非种族隔离后的真相与和解进程中被确认身份并被拒绝特赦，但六名涉嫌参与谋杀的前警察从未受到起诉。这六人都已去世。
1998年9月14日，档案照片： 尤金·德科克，一个酷刑和杀害数十人的秘密警察部队的负责人，在南非比勒陀利亚出席真相与和解委员会（TRC）的特赦听证会。丹尼斯·法雷尔 / 美联社
近年来，南非当局重新调查了其他种族隔离时期的暴行案件。这些案件包括1967年诺贝尔和平奖得主阿尔伯特·卢图利（Albert Luthuli）的死亡、1981年律师格里菲斯·姆亨格（Griffiths Mxenge）的被杀，以及1977年反种族隔离标志性人物史蒂夫·比科（Steve Biko）在警察拘留中死亡。
南非总统西里尔·拉马福萨（Cyril Ramaphosa）去年下令进行一项单独调查，以确定他所在政党领导的后种族隔离政府是否故意阻碍了对种族隔离时期犯罪的调查和起诉。
Notorious police commander dubbed “Prime Evil” testifies at South African hearing on apartheid killings
Updated on: March 24, 2026 / 7:10 AM EDT / CBS/AP
One of South Africa’s most notorious apartheid police commanders testified on Monday at an inquiry into the killing of four activists in 1985 as part of the country’s renewed focus on atrocities committed by security forces during decades of forced racial segregation that went unpunished.
Eugene de Kock, dubbed “Prime Evil” for his role in killing anti-apartheid activists, denied involvement in the prominent case of the Cradock Four – but said police at the time had photos of around 6,000 anti-apartheid activists described as “known terrorists” who should be tracked and killed if an arrest was not possible.
The Cradock Four were not among them, he said. Matthew Goniwe, Fort Calata, Sicelo Mhlauli and Sparrow Mkonto, three of them teachers, were abducted by police at a roadblock and killed. Their bodies were found burned, in one of the apartheid era’s most shocking cases.
De Kock testified that one of the police officers implicated in the killings had asked him to help assist with a cover-up.
“He wanted to know if I could get another firearm,” de Kock said, adding that he was asked “if we could interfere with the ballistics.”
De Kock, the commander of a special counterinsurgency police unit during apartheid, was sentenced in 1996 to two life terms and another 212 years in prison after being convicted of murder, kidnapping and other charges for his role in abducting, torturing and killing activists. He was released on parole in 2015.
According to BBC News, his father, Lawrence de Kock, was a magistrate and a close personal friend of former apartheid Prime Minister John Vorster. His brother, Vossie de Kock, described him as a “quiet boy” who “wasn’t violent at all,” the BBC reported.
De Kock asked for forgiveness from some of his victims, according to the BBC. In a letter he penned to the family of Bheki Mlangeni, a lawyer he killed with a letter bomb, he wrote: “There is no greater punishment than to have to live with the consequences of the most terrible deed with no-one to forgive you. For me, even my own death can’t compare.”
Now 77, de Kock was given a police guard to a court in the southern city of Gqeberha, where the Cradock Four were killed. His image was blurred on the official video broadcast after the judge ruled that he not be shown, according to the Foundation for Human Rights, which is representing some of the victims’ families.
Two inquiries into the case conducted during apartheid were widely suspected of being cover-ups. One that started in 1987 found the men were killed by unknown people. The other that began in 1993, found that they were killed by unnamed police officers.
The latest inquiry started last year after families’ pressure. The six former policemen implicated in the killings were never prosecuted despite being identified and denied amnesty during South Africa’s post-apartheid Truth and Reconciliation process in the late 1990s. All six have died.
In this Sept. 14, 1998 file photo, Eugene de Kock, the head of a covert police unit that tortured and killed dozens of people, attends an amnesty hearing of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) in Pretoria, South Africa. Denis Farrell / AP
South African authorities have reopened other investigations into apartheid atrocities in recent years. They include the 1967 death of Nobel Peace Prize winner Albert Luthuli, the 1981 killing of lawyer Griffiths Mxenge and the 1977 death in police custody of iconic anti-apartheid figure Steve Biko.
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa last year ordered a separate inquiry to establish whether post-apartheid governments led by his party intentionally blocked investigations and prosecutions of apartheid-era crimes.