S. Africa Convicts 2 in Hani Slaying : Apartheid: White separatist politician and anti-Communist Polish immigrant killed black leader, sparking riots.

A prominent white separatist politician and an anti-Communist Polish immigrant were convicted Thursday of murdering charismatic black leader Chris Hani, an assassination that sparked widespread rioting and bloodshed across South Africa last April.

A third defendant, a right-wing writer, was found innocent of providing the killers with a hit list that contained the address and other details of Hani, a leader of the African National Congress and general secretary of South Africa’s Communist Party.

The judge who handed down the verdicts in the non-jury trial will issue sentences today against immigrant Janusz Walus and Clive Derby-Lewis, a former member of Parliament and a Conservative Party leader. The pro-apartheid party is the official opposition in the white-led Parliament.

Both men can be sentenced to death, although the government has suspended executions until a post-apartheid government can consider the issue after the country’s first all-race elections next April.

A gasp went through the packed, wood-paneled courtroom as the verdicts were read. Walus, 38, appeared impassive, as he has throughout the two-week trial. Derby-Lewis, 57, was shaking. Derby-Lewis’ wife, Gaye, 54, was acquitted of all charges. But several onlookers shouted angry threats at her and warned her to return to Australia, where she was born.

Later, senior ANC officials also criticized Gaye Derby-Lewis’ acquittal, insisting she was part of a plot by right-wing zealots to kill key anti-apartheid leaders. “We will continue to investigate this conspiracy and we will not rest until all the conspirators have been apprehended and brought to justice in a democratic South Africa,” ANC spokesman Carl Niehaus said in a telephone interview.

Black protesters outside the Rand Supreme Court chanted, booed and spit at whites as they left the heavily guarded building. The usually busy downtown street was closed during the trial, and riot police protected the entrance.

Hani, 50, was probably South Africa’s most popular black leader after ANC leader Nelson Mandela. Dozens of people were killed in riots after the murder, plunging the country into one of its worst political crises since President Frederik W. de Klerk began dismantling apartheid in 1990.

Hani’s widow, Limpho, attended the final day in court. Before the verdicts were read, she was led to the front of the courtroom, where she stared angrily at the three accused of murdering her husband.

Walus’ conviction seemed assured earlier this week when his lawyer conceded “insurmountable difficulties” in disputing charges that the blond-haired glass salesman had shot Hani at close range beside Hani’s suburban home April 10. Walus was arrested 10 minutes after fleeing the scene, and the murder weapon was found in his car.

Announcing the verdict, Judge C.F. Eloff said evidence was “overwhelming” against Walus: “He had direct intent to kill.”

Walus, who emigrated from Poland in 1981 and became a South African citizen, had ties to far-right paramilitary groups. His girlfriend testified that Walus was bitter about the nationalization of his family’s business by Polish Communists, and fearful that the end of 350 years of white rule would bring a similar brand of communism to South Africa.

The judge said pro-apartheid politician Clive Derby-Lewis had given a stolen 9-millimeter automatic pistol to Walus “knowing full well what the objective was and the use to which it would be put.”

The two men were also convicted of possession of an unlicensed firearm and Derby-Lewis with illegal possession of ammunition. Neither man testified.

But Eloff acquitted Gaye Derby-Lewis of all charges, citing insufficient evidence that she had given Walus a list with Hani’s name. He also acquitted Clive Derby-Lewis and Walus of conspiring to murder Mandela and seven others named on the alleged hit list.