Talk:Dieter Gerhardt

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When was he convicted? What was he convicted of? Treason? If so, why was he not executed? Commodore is a high rank especially in a small navy like that of South Africa. This must have been a major scandal. pmcray 23:14, 21 March 2007 (UTC)

It was indeed a major scandal, which received coverage in most major Western media at the time. I'll try get some specific links later, but Gerhardt and his wife Ruth were arrested in early 1983. In December of that year, the Cape Town Supreme Court found them guilty of high treason and sentenced both to life imprisonment plus 10 years. I don't know why he wasn't sentenced to death, though it's worth remembering that following the Rivonia Trial of Nelson Mandela and others, execution ceased being the primary punishment for high treason. — Impi 18:56, 11 April 2007 (UTC)

I think that the information on Dieter Gerhardt's release is uncorrect in this article. He was released as part of a spy swap in the late 1980's and not after 1994. This was an international spy swop involving other US and Soviet spies. He then went to live in Switzerland. Since 1994 he has visited South Africa many times. He was not executed because generally during the cold war spies were kept in prison to be used in later spy swops. Ozinsky 08:10, 5 May 2007 (UTC)

My mistake on the above. Gerhard was still in jail in 1992. I am still trying to find out when he was actually released. Ozinsky 11:02, 5 May 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Odile Harington

What is the relevance of Odile Harington to this article? Anyway, the article on her states she was indeed released by the Zimbabwean government in 1990. Babakathy 17:57, 6 August 2007 (UTC)