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EARLY LIFE In May 1941 at the age of thirteen George Bizos claims that he helped seven New Zealand soldiers. (Don Gladding, Mick Karup, Peter Martin, John Lewis and three others) Coupled with the sad fact that Bizos's pants which had contained a thank you letter from the men was mysteriously stolen, the men unfortunately have also not confirmed the story - who where hiding in the hills to escape Nazi occupied Greece to Crete . He says the escape did not go well and he was adrift for three days until he managed to attract the attention of crew on the British destroyer, HMS Kimberley , which was on its way to the Battle Of Crete . After the battle HMS Kimerley dropped him off at Alexandria , Egypt . As a refugee he where sent to South Africa and landed in Durban , from here he went by train to Johannesburg . He disembarked at the ''Braamfontein'' railway station because it was feared that the Ossewabrandwag would have a demonstration at the central station. The Ossewabrandwag blamed Jan Smuts for bringing the ''vuilgoed'' (rubbish) of Europe to South Africa. The local Greek community helped integrate him into society. Bizos did not immediately go to school because he could not speak English or Afrikaans but by 1948 — the year that the National Party was voted into power — Bizos had managed to gain entry into the law faculty at the University Of The Witwatersrand . CAREER Bizos joined the Bar in Johannesburg in 1954 . He was counsel to Trevor Huddleston of Sophiatown in the 1950s and since then Bizos has been counsel to Nelson Mandela . He was part of the team that unsuccessfully defended Mandela, Govan Mbeki and Walter Sisulu in the Rivonia Trial in 1963 – 64 . He credits to himself the drafting of Mandela's famous speech spoken at the trial. This trial heralded the arrival of a group of tough human rights lawyers — Joel Joffe , Arthur Chaskalson , Harold Hanson . He defended Winnie Madikizela-Mandela on more than 20 occasions. Bizos was counsel at the inquests into the deaths in detention of Ahmed Timol in 1971 , of Steve Biko in 1977 and of Dr Neil Agget in 1982 . He also represented and the family of Chris Hani . In the 1970s Bizos says he to helped start a Greek school, called ''Saheti''. It embraced Hellenism , yet was non-exclusionist, even during the heart of apartheid. It was here that people like Chris Hani's children were educated. He has been a senior member of the Johannesburg Bar since 1978. He is a member of the National Council of Lawyers for Human Rights, which he helped found in 1979. He is Senior Counsel at the Legal Resources Centre in Johannesburg in the Constitutional Litigation Unit. He was a judge on Botswana 's Court of Appeal from 1985 to 1993. Bizos was counsel to United Democratic Front leaders, including future provincial Premiers Patrick Lekota and Popo Molefe in the Delmas Treason Trial, 1985-89. In 1990 he became a member of the African National Congress 's Legal and Constitutional Committee, and at Convention For A Democratic South Africa (CODESA) he served as advisor to the negotiating teams and participated in drawing up the Interim Constitution. He was involved of the drafting of legislation, and particularly the Truth and Reconciliation Bill and amendments to the Criminal Procedures Act, to bring it into line with Chapter 3 of the constitution, guaranteeing fundamental human rights to all citizens of South Africa. In the Truth And Reconciliation Commission hearings, He was the leader of the team to oppose applications for amnesty on behalf of the Biko, Hani, Goniwe, Calata, Mkonto, Mhlauli, Slovo and Schoon families. He was appointed by then President Mandela to the Judicial Services Commission which, in terms of the constitution recommends candidates for appointment as judges and proposes reforms to the judicial system to erase its apartheid past. Bizos was the leader of the team for the South African Government to argue that the death penalty was unconstitutional and counsel for the National Assembly in the Certification of the Constitution by the Constitutional Court. Bizos has never been a member of the South African judiciary, even though many of his contemprories were appointed. He was part of the team that defended the Zimbabwean opposition Movement For Democratic Change 's leader Morgan Tsvangirai , who was charged with planning a Coup D'état by conspiring to assassinate President Robert Mugabe before the 2002 general elections. HONORS AND AWARDS
Author of ''No One to Blame - In Pursuit of Justice in South Africa'' published in 1998 . |
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