VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Today in history start with June 12, 1964, Nelson Mandela is sentenced to life imprisonment.

The leader of the South African anti-apartheid movement Nelson Mandela, was sentenced to life in prison by a court judge in the city of Pretoria. Mandela was found guilty of sabotaging the government at the time. Besides Mandela, seven anti-apartheid fighters were also sentenced to life imprisonment. Mandela was sent to Robben Island prison off the coast of South Africa. The condition of this prison is very bad. He was only allowed to receive one visitor every six months. Every day, he was forced to break the stone in the prison yard for hours.

During that time, Mandela became the most famous political prisoner in the world. World leaders were demanding freedom for Mandela. They wanted the apartheid regime in South Africa to be over. In 1982, the government moved Mandela to the mainland. This displacement was in line with the protests of many people against the apartheid regime in the country. After nearly 27 years as a prison inmate at Robben Island, in 1990 Mandela was finally released.

Turning to June 12, 1990 First free elections take place in Algeria.

First free elections took place in Algeria on 12 June 1990 and the results of this counting, the Islamic Salvation Front Party or Le Front Islamique du Salut - FIS won considerable votes. FIS managed to control more than 54 percent of the total number of incoming votes. While the ruling party, the National Liberation Front (FLN) only got not less than 28 percent. With this victory, the FIS party had the right to control and gain privilege in most of the authorities in some cities as well as on power. But the victory was canceled by the ruling party supported by the military. As a result of the cancellation Algeria was hit by riots and violence that resulted in the many lives.

Today in History ends with June 12, 1991, Boris Yeltsin is elected President of Russia.

After the Soviet Union collapsed, Boris Yeltsin was elected president of Russia through direct elections on 12 June 1991 with 57 percent of the vote. He became the first president directly elected in Russian history. Yeltsin ascended the presidency along with a wave of high hopes for political reform and disillusionment with communist rule. In his time, he cut the government budget on a large scale with the aim of balancing state revenues and expenditures and borrowed funds from Western countries. But this resulted in Russia falling in a great economic crisis in 1998. He resigned as president on December 31, 1999 as someone who was hated. Its popularity when stepped down only 2 percent. Yeltsin was also criticized for his disappointing results in the First Chechen War, as Russia was militarily defeated and Chechnya got more autonomy. He was replaced by Vladimir Putin.