S. Africa court sees dog attack video

PRETORIA, South Africa (Reuters) -- A video of white policemen ordering dogs to attack Mozambican immigrants has been played during the trial of the men accused of unleashing the animals.

The three immigrants wept as the video, in which they scream and beg for mercy, was shown.

Four of the six policemen accused of setting the dogs on the immigrants pleaded guilty to assault charges on Monday. The video forms part of the evidence to be reviewed by the court before sentencing.

Chief prosecutor John Welch said sentencing was likely be on Monday after the court had heard arguments from the policemen's lawyers.

The other two accused, Nicolaas Loubser, 27, and Dino Guitto, 27, pleaded not guilty to charges of assault with intent to do grievous bodily harm, attempting to defeat the ends of justice and corruption.

Court officials said they would face a separate trial starting on June 3 next year.

The video showed Robert Henzen, 32, Eugene Truter, 28, Jacobus Smith, 31, and Lodewyk Koch, 32, laughing as their German Shepherds mauled the three men who screamed and pleaded for mercy.

"That's the order you give when you tell your dog to attack," the policemen's commanding officer Egbertus van Zyl told the court as he went through the video, pointing out the various policemen who were in court.

Henzen put his head down and cried as the other three policemen stared straight ahead, refusing to look at the video.

But there was no escaping the soundtrack, with the snarls of dogs and the screams of the victims filling the courtroom.

Henzen and Truter also pleaded guilty to one charge of attempting to defeat the ends of justice.

Alexandre Timane, 23, his brother Gabriel, 24, and their friend Sebastiao Cossa, 25, sat in the front of the court. Alexandre trembled and sobbed, while the other two lowered their heads as they listened to the translator.

The three Mozambicans are in a police protection programme, their lawyer Jose Nascimento told Reuters. He said the three men would bring a civil action against the policemen.

"This wave of xenophobia in the country is just not on. Especially when you take into account the historical ties between Mozambique and South Africa," he said.

A small group of protesters watched by police waved placards and a Mozambican flag outside the court. One of the posters read: "Mr Judge don't fine them. Send them to jail."

"South Africans are racist towards foreigners. We are here to protest against the police who release dogs on our brothers," said George Nyambi, a Mozambican who has been arrested three times and deported to Mozambique once.

The video-taped torture shocked South Africa when it was aired last year by the public broadcaster, which had obtained a copy of the tape. It triggered a national debate about the nature of post-apartheid change.

The tape was allegedly made in 1998 and was reported to have been shown at police parties.

Analysts say the incident has cast the spotlight on racism and police brutality, grim legacies of the apartheid era that ended in 1994.