Dimitri Tsafendas
Dimitri Tsafendas | |
|---|---|
Tsafendas in a 1966 mugshot | |
| Born | 14 January 1918 |
| Died | 7 October 1999 (aged 81) Krugersdorp, Gauteng, South Africa |
| Known for | Assassination of South African Prime Minister Hendrik Verwoerd |
| Political party | SACP |
| Criminal charge | Murder |
| Criminal penalty | Detained "at the pleasure of the State President" |
| Criminal status | Not guilty by reason of insanity |
| Military career | |
| Branch | United States Merchant Marine (1941–1945) Democratic Army of Greece (1947–1949) |
| Battles / wars | World War II Greek Civil War |
Dimitri Tsafendas (Greek: Δημήτρης Τσαφέντας; 14 January 1918 – 7 October 1999) was a Greek-Mozambican lifelong political militant and the assassin of Prime Minister of South Africa Hendrik Verwoerd. On 6 September 1966, while working as a parliamentary messenger, Tsafendas stabbed Verwoerd – commonly regarded as the architect of apartheid – to death during a sitting of the House of Assembly in Cape Town.