South Africa: inquest into death of Nobel Peace Prize laureate Chief Albert Luthuli re-opened

South Africa is re-examining the circumstances around the death of Nobel Laureate Chief Albert Luthuli, according to a statement by the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development of South Africa.

Luthuli, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1960 for his role in the fight against apartheid, died in 1967 in what was initially reported as an accident.

That year, an inquest ruled that Luthuli was struck by a train and fractured his skull while walking on a railway line.

The ruling has, however, continued to raise doubts among relatives and activists.

At the time of his death, Chief Albert Luthuli was president of the African National Congress (ANC), which was banned by the South African government between 1960 and 1990.

Alongside the Luthuli case, South Africa's national prosecuting authority (NPA) is also reopening the case of Mlungisi Griffiths Mxenge, an anti-apartheid lawyer who died in 1981 after being stabbed 45 times and having his throat slit.

Although three people were found guilty of his murder nine years after Mxenge's death, they were granted amnesty before they could be sentenced.

In its statement, the Department of Justice said: "The NPA and its partners will endeavour to address the atrocities of the past and assist in providing closure to the families of the victims of these crimes."