The University of Massachusetts will host “Living Values: The Life, Death, and Legacy of Amy Biehl” tomorrow at 7:30 p.m. in room 904 of the Campus Center. The event is being held in honor of a visit by Peter and Linda Biehl, whose daughter Amy was stoned and stabbed to death by disgruntled protestors in South Africa.

Amy Biehl was a Fulbright scholar working in Cape Town, South Africa in the final days of the South African Apartheid era, in which blacks were denied equal citizenship. She had been working with government officials to prepare the nation for its first racially unbiased elections. In August 1993, she was killed by four men who had attended an anti-Apartheid political rally.

Biehl’s killers were convicted of murder, but later applied for amnesty with the Truth and Reconciliation Commission [TRC], which granted freedom to perpetrators of political crimes. Biehl’s parents shocked the African nation by supporting the men in their quest to be released from prison, an attempt which ultimately proved successful. Peter and Linda have since established the Amy Biehl Foundation in the U.S., and the Amy Biehl Foundation Trust in South Africa, to improve living conditions for disadvantaged South African youth.

The Biehls spoke at a press conference yesterday, where they described their attempts to empower African communities, and their success at finding peace in the wake of their daughter’s death.

“We were very excited when we first heard about the Truth and Reconciliation Commission,” Peter Biehl said. “We knew all about it because Amy told us about it. South Africa’s free elections would never have taken place without it. Amy supported it, so we supported it – knowing very well that her killers would apply for amnesty.” He went on to say that they “aren’t bothered a bit” by the knowledge that her killers are now free.

“We were very fulfilled and rewarded by the experience of participating in the hearings,” he continued. “We learned that the process of reconciliation begins with the truth. The four young men who killed Amy had not ever confessed before [the day of the hearing].”

The Biehls explained that, since being freed, two of Amy’s four murderers have joined their organization, and work in her honor.

“They’re not killers,” Peter explained. “They were wrapped up in a political movement.”

While the two others involved in her death have had run-ins with the law since being released, the Biehls are still optimistic about what they call a “50 percent success rate.”

At noon today, the Biehls will be presented with Chancellor’s Medals in a ceremony to be held in room 1009 of the Campus Center. UMass staff expressed excitement about the Biehl’s presence on campus to receive the medals.

“This [event] is important, because students will have the opportunity to learn from individuals that truly demonstrate and live the values that we embrace as an institution of higher learning,” said Elizabeth Dale, the Assistant Chancellor for University Advancement and Special Projects. “Theirs is an extraordinary story.”