South Africa gallows site becomes museum, memorial (AP)

PRETORIA, South Africa ? Relatives of anti-apartheid militants hanged at South Africa's main gallows are gathering in Pretoria for a ceremony at which President Jacob Zuma will inaugurate the site as a national memorial and museum.

Organizers say the project opening Thursday offers closure for relatives, and a chance for society to confront the wounds of the past and then move on.

The gallows at Pretoria Central Prison was abandoned after the death penalty was abolished in 1995.

Renovations have included posting a sign on a freshly painted wall along a hallway leading to the gallows telling visitors some 3,500 South Africans were hanged over the last century. "Of these," it continues, "130 were patriots whose only crime was fighting oppression."

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/world/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111215/ap_on_re_af/af_south_africa_gallows_museum

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