On June 12, 1964, the Pretoria Supreme Court delivered life sentences to Nelson Mandela and seven co-defendants in what became known as the Rivonia Trial. Charged with sabotage and conspiracy to overthrow the government, the defendants had been arrested after police raided a farm in Rivonia, Johannesburg, in 1963 and seized documents and material used as evidence of the African National Congress’s (ANC) underground and armed activities. The trial began in October 1963 and, after a hiatus, resumed in early 1964 with extensive testimony and documentary evidence presented by the prosecution. The accused included prominent ANC leaders and activists such as Walter Sisulu, Govan Mbeki, Raymond Mhlaba, Ahmed Kathrada, Denis Goldberg, and Elias Motsoaledi. Mandela, who had already been serving a five-year sentence for earlier charges, was moved from a courtroom fight over jurisdiction and potential death penalty to the more public and high-profile hearing that focused on the leadership and aims of the ANC’s armed wing, Umkhonto we Sizwe (Spear of the Nation). The prosecution argued the defendants plotted violent revolution; the defense framed their actions as part of a broader struggle against institutionalized racial discrimination and political exclusion under apartheid. During the trial, Mandela delivered a lengthy and now-famous speech from the dock in which he explained why he had concluded that nonviolent protest had failed and had justified, in his view, the turn to sabotage as a tactic directed at military and government infrastructure rather than civilian targets. That address, widely reported and preserved in historical records, helped international audiences understand the motives behind the defendants’ choices and elevated Mandela as a symbolic leader of resistance to apartheid. Despite the possibility of capital punishment, the presiding judge, Dr. Quartus de Wet, sentenced Mandela and several co-defendants to life imprisonment rather than death. The sentences were served in a series of prisons, with Mandela eventually transferred to Robben Island, where he spent 18 of his 27 years in prison. Other prisoners served their terms in different locations, including Pollsmoor and Victor Verster (now Drakenstein) prisons. The Rivonia sentences had profound political and social consequences. Domestically, they removed key leaders from active, above-ground participation in the liberation movement, prompting the ANC and other anti-apartheid organizations to adapt tactics and leadership structures. Internationally, the sentences intensified global scrutiny and condemnation of apartheid policies. Over subsequent decades, campaigns for the prisoners’ release became focal points for anti-apartheid activists, governments, and civic organizations worldwide, contributing to South Africa’s growing diplomatic isolation and economic pressure. Mandela’s imprisonment transformed him from a national activist into a global symbol of resistance to racial oppression. While incarcerated, he remained a central figure in negotiations that eventually led to the dismantling of apartheid, even though he did not re-enter public life until his release in 1990. The Rivonia Trial and the life sentences handed down on June 12, 1964, are widely regarded by historians as pivotal in shaping the later course of South African politics and the international anti-apartheid movement. Historians note that interpretations of the trial’s legal proceedings, the court’s motives, and the wider political context continue to be examined and debated. Primary sources for the trial include court transcripts, contemporary newspaper reports, and later memoirs and archival materials produced by participants and observers. This summary avoids reconstructing contested private statements and relies on widely documented facts about dates, charges, sentences, and subsequent imprisonment and political impact.