The famous South African athlete Oscar Pistoriusin prison since 2014 for having killed his girlfriend, the model, a year earlier Reeva Steenkampwas released from prison this Friday after having obtained parole, confirmed the Department of Correctional Services (DCS) of South Africa.
“He Department of Correctional Services (DCS) confirms that Oscar Pistorius is on parole, effective January 5, 2024. He was admitted to the community prison system and is now home“This institution stated in a statement.
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The prison authorities granted conditional release to Pistorius on November 24, during a closed-door hearing at the prison. Atteridgevillein Praetorship.
This Wednesday, the DCS indicated that, despite the “high public profile” of the athlete, the “general conditions” of that regime such as, for example, being “at home at certain times of the day”.
“You will not be able to consume alcohol or other substances. (…) Like other people on parole, Pistorius is prohibited from conducting interviews with the media“added the agency, specifying that these restrictions will be valid until the sentence expires in 2029.
In a statement reported by local media, the mother of the murdered model, June Steenkampsaid this Friday that the pain over the death of his daughter is still “raw and real” and regretted that “the intensity of (media) coverage of the trial” and subsequent requests for parole meant the “loss of your privacy” and “made it difficult to mourn in peace”.
“We have always known that probation is part of the South African legal system and we have always said that the law must take its course”, stated Steenkamp, although he highlighted that “There can never be justice if your loved one will never return.”.
“The conditions imposed by the parole board, which include anger management courses and programs on gender violence, send a clear message that gender violence is taken seriously”he added.
This was the second time that Pistorius requested conditional release, which was denied last March despite the fact that the convicted man argued that both his prison time and the minimum required to qualify for that measure were unfairly increased, thus violating his “Fundamental rights”.
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Pistorius, 37, then took his case to the South African Constitutional Courtwhich last October ruled that the athlete was eligible for conditional release.
Before the November hearing began where she was finally granted, June Steenkamp said she was not “convinced” about what “Oscar has been rehabilitated”, according to a letter read by his lawyers.
Pistorius is serving time for shooting dead Reeva Steenkampthen 29 years old, at his home in Pretoria on Valentine’s Day 2013, when he was at the peak of his fame and had amassed a fortune in his sports career.
He shot her four times through the closed bathroom door and has tried unsuccessfully to defend that he panicked when he mistook the model for a thief who had entered the home through the bathroom window.
“I don’t believe Oscar’s version. (…) I don’t know anyone who does it. My dear daughter screamed for her life loud enough for the neighbors to hear.“said the victim’s mother in her letter last November.
He did not see Pistorius’ release from prison this Friday, however, the father of the murdered model, Barry Steenkampwho died at the age of 80 last September.
Following a trial that garnered worldwide media attention, Pistorius was initially sentenced in October 2014 to five years in prison for manslaughter, but the Prosecutor’s Office appealed the ruling.
In 2015, the South African Supreme Court of Appeal overturned that conviction and found him guilty of murder, referring the case back to a lower court which, in July 2016, sentenced Pistorius to six years in prison for murder.
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However, after another appeal by the Prosecutor’s Office, the Supreme Court of Appeal increased the sentence in November 2017 to fifteen years, the minimum contemplated by law in cases of murder except in exceptional situations.
In practice, that sentence meant thirteen years and five months in prison, after deducting the time that Pistorius – who spent a period on bail and under house arrest – had already spent in prison.
Born with a genetic problem that led his parents to decide to amputate both of his legs below the knees when he was eleven months old, Pistorius achieved worldwide fame by running in the London Olympics (2012) on two carbon prostheses.
