On August 17, Adriaan Vlok, former Minister of Law and Order in South Africa from 1985 to 1991, and his chief of police, General Johan Van der Merwe, were given deferred ten-year sentences by the High Court of Pretoria. Three other police officers tried with them received five-year sentences. All had pled guilty to the attempted murder in April 1989 of Reverend Frank Chikane, one of the leaders in the fight against apartheid and today Director General in the Presidency. By 2003, the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) had granted 1,312 requests for amnesty and rejected 5,143, according to Le Monde. The state prosecutor has the discretionary power to initiate proceedings against those whose requests for amnesty were rejected by the TRC. According to Reuters, protestors called for Vlok to also be tried for the other human rights violations committed under his command.