Nelson Mandela and seven others were sentenced to life imprisonment in the Rivonia Trial in 1964.
The trial began in 1963 after police raids uncovered documents and equipment at Liliesleaf Farm in Rivonia, a Johannesburg suburb. Prosecutors charged the defendants with sabotage and conspiracy to overthrow the government. Mandela used his courtroom statement to explain the political ideals behind the struggle against apartheid.
On 11 June 1964, the court found the defendants guilty, and on 12 June it sentenced them to life imprisonment rather than death. Mandela was sent to Robben Island, where he spent most of his imprisonment.
The case is often confused with the earlier Treason Trial, which ran from 1956 to 1961 and ended in acquittals. The Rivonia defendants were not sentenced to life imprisonment for the Sharpeville massacre; that event was a separate turning point in apartheid-era history.