Treason Trial

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The Treason Trial was a trial in which 156 people, including Nelson Mandela, were arrested in a raid and accused of treason in South Africa in 1956. The trial lasted until 1961, when all of the defendants were found not guilty. During the trials, Oliver Tambo left the country and was exiled. Whilst in other European and African countries he opened up an organization which helped bring publicity to the African National Congress's cause in South Africa. Some of the defendants were later convicted in the Rivonia Trial in 1964.

Along with Mandela, notable defendants in the Treason Trial included: Albert Luthuli (president of the ANC), Walter Sisulu, and Alex La Guma (communist author).