The prosecutor speaks of “inexcusable violations of the law”: Two convictions in connection with the murder of civil rights activist Malcolm X have been overturned. After decades.
New York – More than half a century after the death of US civil rights activist Malcolm X, the convictions of two men convicted in connection with his murder have been overturned.
“I apologize for serious and inexcusable violations of the law,” said New York attorney Cy Vance on Thursday. Previously, a nearly two-year investigation had come to the conclusion that the convictions against Muhammad Aziz and Khalil Islam could not be upheld due to, among other things, contradicting testimonies and a lack of evidence.
Islam had spent 20 years in prison after the conviction and died in 2009. Aziz was released from prison in 1985. “I do not need this court, not these defense lawyers and no piece of paper to tell me that I am innocent,” said Aziz, according to the New York Times. “I am an 83-year-old who has been criminalized by the judicial system.”
The guilty verdict of a third man who confessed to the murder at the time remains. Malcolm X was shot dead in New York in February 1965. dpa
