Rev. Boesak Faces Charges of Subversion : Cleric Out of Jail; New Counts Say He Backed Foreign Divestiture

The Rev. Allan Boesak was charged with subversion and terrorism and released on strict bail conditions today, 24 days after his arrest for planning an illegal march on the prison where African National Congress leader Nelson Mandela is jailed.

Boesak, president of the 70-million member World Alliance of Reformed Churches, had been detained without charge. He was freed on $8,000 bail pending trial by Magistrate’s Court in Malmesbury, a small town about 30 miles north of Cape Town.

The 39-year-old minister of mixed race was detained Aug. 27 on the eve of a march he had planned to lead on Pollsmoor Prison, where Mandela is serving a life term on a conviction of plotting sabotage.

Long Sentence Possible

Boesak was charged today with four counts under the subversion section of the Internal Security Act, carrying a maximum sentence upon conviction of 25 years in prison.

Acting Chief Magistrate Andre Dippenaar, who presided at the appearance in Malmesbury, told the Associated Press that the charges involved anti-government meetings Boesak allegedly attended this year near Cape Town. At one of them, Boesak allegedly advocated divestiture by foreign firms, a crime in South Africa.

Boesak was not asked to plead, and the hearing lasted just a few minutes. He was ordered to appear again in the Magistrate’s Court on Nov. 6.

As part of his bail conditions, Boesak was ordered to surrender his passport, not to talk to reporters or address meetings, and not to organize or support consumer and school boycotts. He also was told to report to police daily and stay home overnight.

Police Halt Marches

After Boesak called for the march to Mandela’s prison, police broke up attempted marches, setting off weeks of rioting in Cape Town’s black and mixed-race neighborhoods that left more than three dozen people dead.

Church groups around the world had called for the white minority government to charge Boesak or release him. He was the most prominent member of the United Democratic Front anti-apartheid coalition to be formally charged in recent months.

Boesak was a founder of the 2-year-old group, although he held no position other than the honorary one of “patron” in the coalition fighting apartheid, the legally forced system of racial separation.

The clergyman’s release came as President Pieter W. Botha, in a speech to members of the ruling National Party in Pretoria, toughened conditions under which he would begin talks with the outlawed African National Congress.

Botha demanded that the congress renounce violence as a means of dismantling the white minority government’s apartheid policy of racial separation and break ties with the Soviet Union.