A South African court ruled Thursday that the 1967 death of ANC leader Albert Luthuli was due to “assault” by apartheid policemen, overturning a finding that he was struck by a train.

A formal inquest by the apartheid government claimed in 1967 that Luthuli — who in 1960 became the first African to win the Nobel Peace Prize — had died after being hit by a goods train.

South Africa’s government this year reopened inquests into the deaths of several political activists in the struggle against the white-minority apartheid regime, which was removed in 1994.

“It is found that the deceased died as a result of a fractured skull, cerebral haemorrhage and concussion of the brain associated with an assault,” Judge Nompumelelo Hadebe ruled.

The judge said Luthuli’s death was attributable to “assa

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