Eugene de Kock

Eugene Alexander de Kock (born 29 January 1949) is a former South African Police (SAP) colonel, torturer, and assassin, active under the apartheid government. Nicknamed "Prime Evil" by the press, de Kock was the commanding officer of C10, a counter-insurgency unit of the SAP that kidnapped, tortured, and murdered numerous anti-apartheid activists from the 1980s to the early 1990s. C10's victims included members of the African National Congress. Following South Africa's transition to democracy in 1994, de Kock disclosed the full scope of C10's crimes while testifying before the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. In 1996, he was tried and convicted on eighty-nine charges and sentenced to 212 years in prison. Since beginning his sentence, de Kock has accused several members of the apartheid government, including former state president F. W. de Klerk, of permitting C10's activities.