The judge rejected charges of bribery

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Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi has been barred from holding office for six years after she was found guilty of electoral corruption.

But Mrs Gandhi rejected calls to resign and announced plans to appeal to the Supreme Court.

The verdict was delivered by Mr Justice Sinha at Allahabad High Court. It came almost four years after the case was brought by Raj Narain, the premier's defeated opponent in the 1971 parliamentary election.

Mrs Gandhi, who gave evidence in her defence during the trial, was found guilty of dishonest election practices, excessive election expenditure, and of using government machinery and officials for party purposes.

The judge rejected more serious charges of bribery against her.

"The leadership of Mrs Gandhi is indispensable ."said in a Party statement.

Mrs Gandhi insisted the conviction did not undermine her position, despite having beenunseatedfrom the lower house of parliament, Lok Sabha, by order of the High Court.

She said: "There is a lot of talk about our government not being clean, but from our experience the situation was very much worse when [opposition] parties were forming governments".

And she dismissed criticism of the way her Congress Party raised election campaign money, saying all parties used the same methods.

The prime minister has retained the support of her party, which issued a statement backing her.

"The leadership of Mrs Gandhi is indispensable," the statement read.

After news of the verdict spread, hundreds of supporters demonstrated outside her house, pledging their loyalty.

Indian High Commissioner BK Nehru said Mrs Gandhi's conviction would not harm her political career.

"Mrs Gandhi has still today overwhelming support in the country," he said.

"I believe the prime minister of India will continue in office until the electorate of India decides otherwise".

Nelson Mandela: "I do not deny I planned sabotage"

Crowds gathered silently outside the court building in Pretoria's Church Square waiting for the verdict to be handed down. Hundreds of police patrolled the area.

The Rivonia trial - named after the suburb of Johannesburg where the defendants were arrested - began eight months ago, with Mandela, 46, and his co-defendants proudly confessing their guilt to plotting to destroy the South African state by sabotage.

As members of the ANC - the main African nationalist movement - they have campaigned for an end to the oppression of black South Africans.

But the movement was banned in 1960 following the Sharpeville massacre and campaigners decided they had no choice but to resort to violent means.

Struggle for equal rights

Mandela - a lawyer by training - told the court earlier: "I do not deny that I planned sabotage. I did not plan it in a spirit of recklessness nor because I have any love of violence. I planned it as a result of a calm and sober assessment of the political situation that had arisen after many years of tyranny, exploitation and oppression of my people by the whites."

His co-accused included: Walter Sisulu, Dennis Goldberg, Govan Mbeki, Raymond Mhlaba, Elias Mosoaledi, Andrew Alangeni - all ANC officials and Ahmed Kathrada, the former leader of the Indian National Congress.

Lawyer for the defendants, Harold Hansen QC said: "These accused represent the struggle of their people for equal rights. Their views represent the struggle of the African people for the attainment of equal rights for all races in this country."

But the judge, President Quartus de Wet, said he was not convinced by their claim to have been motivated by a desire to alleviate the grievances of the African people in this country.

Judge de Wet said: "People who organise revolution usually plan to take over the government as well through personal ambition."

However, he stopped short of the imposing the supreme penalty of death.

The convicted men were cheered as they left court in a police lorry. The crowd was dispersed without any serious incident.

unseat:to remove from office（免去席位）

sabotage:deliberate destruction（蓄意破坏）