20 April 1964 · Pretoria
Mandela's Statement from the Dock
The setting
On trial for sabotage alongside other leaders of the African National Congress, Nelson Mandela spoke from the dock for three hours, defending the turn to armed resistance against apartheid.
Key passage
It is an ideal for which I am prepared to die.
Statement from the dock at the Rivonia Trial, 20 April 1964. Quoted briefly: the full text is still under copyright.
Read the complete textNelson Mandela Foundation
What followed
Mandela and his co-defendants were sentenced to life imprisonment. He was released in 1990, apartheid was dismantled, and in 1994 he was elected South Africa's first Black president.