Former security branch policeman Joao Rodrigues’ legal representative is expected to argue before the South Gauteng High Court on why he should not be prosecuted for the murder of anti-apartheid activist Ahmed Timol in 1971.

In a statement released on Sunday, the Ahmed Timol Family Trust said Rodrigues’ lawyers will argue that he should not be prosecuted on the basis of his age and the amount of time that has passed since Timol’s murder.

News24 reported previously that the case was set down for pre-trial proceedings, but Rodrigues’ legal team, headed by advocate Jaap Cilliers SC, indicated that he intended to apply for a permanent stay of prosecution.

Judge Ramarumo Monama asked for all applications to be submitted by Friday.

Monama previously said the matter was 47 years old and “needs to be attended to as quickly as possible”.

Last year, the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria found that Timol died at the hands of the apartheid security branch police while in detention.

It found that Timol did not commit suicide, as was previously reported, but “died as a result of having been pushed to fall, an act which was committed by members of the Security Branch with dolus eventualis as a form of intent, and prima facie amounting to murder”.