Justice for a Friend 5 of Democracy : Three S. Africans are convicted in killing of volunteer worker Amy Biehl

The victim was a bright young woman whose life was taken by killers she did not know. Later, in their trial, the accused were portrayed by the defense as victims themselves. It was another round in history’s seemingly unending cycle of violence, and its circumstances were of a sort that seemed all too familiar to families across the world. What was dramatically different in this case was that the story unfolded on the international stage of the birth of South African democracy.

On Tuesday three South African men were found guilty in the killing of Amy Biehl, a Newport Beach woman who had been working on voter registration when she was slain by a mob in 1993. They were sentenced to 18 years in prison on Wednesday in what amounted to a test for the rule of law.

In life, Biehl was committed to democracy. In death, she became a symbol for the price that many have paid to bring it into being. Afterward, her story continued to lend meaning to democratic aspirations and procedures.

The trial was a reminder that democracy cannot take root and grow amid political violence. Nor can the experiment be continued without assurance that those who seek to undermine it with violence will be held accountable.

The prosecution nearly lost very early on when two key witnesses said they were too afraid to testify, and the prosecutor was forced to drop charges against three defendants. The case against the remaining defendants also was put to the test. Eventually, one suspect was convicted on the basis of a confession, but to convict two others required the courageous testimony of three surprise eyewitnesses.

A fourth defendant, a juvenile, still awaits trial.

If Amy Biehl was a planter of democracy, her family has been picking up where she left off. They have established the Amy Biehl Fund to help finance the kind of grass-roots projects that their relative was involved in. And rather than clamoring for the death penalty, they have sought more positive outcomes. In doing so, they have taught us, too, something about resolution and justice.