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Inquest's co-director Helen Shaw writes that it is "unconscionable that a bereaved family may be prevented from understanding why their relative died and, where necessary, holding the state to account" (Letters, 5 April). Whatever else it did, even South Africa's apartheid regime did not inject secret inquests and trials into its legal system. Thirty years ago, in the country's longest inquest – into the death of Neil Aggett, the only white political detainee to die in security police custody – the verdict was the usual "no one to blame". Nevertheless, the evidence of torture produced by the family's counsel, led by George Bizos, had entered the public domain and enabled the later Truth and Reconciliation Commission to name those it held responsible for Neil's death. Those who loved Neil knew that justice had been cheated, but not the truth. Civil society in South Africa saved the day. Forget the "big society". We need British civil society to pull out the stops.
Beverley Naidoo
Bournemouth
