Processes
Committee decides: release from prison for Oscar Pistorius?
Police officers gather at the entrance to Atteridgeville Prison, where former top athlete Pistorius is being held. photo
© Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi/AP/dpa
The former top athlete Oscar Pistorius was at the zenith of his career. Then he shot his girlfriend and spent years behind bars. Will he be released now?
There is a hearing in South Africa on Friday for the former top athlete who was convicted of manslaughter Oscar Pistorius started. Media representatives from all over the world gathered in front of the prison in the capital Pretoria. They hope to receive information about the meeting, which is taking place behind closed doors. The parole hearing began shortly after 10 a.m. local time (9 a.m. CET) and was expected to last several hours.
Pistorius killed his then-girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp with four shots through the toilet door of his villa on the night of Valentine’s Day 2013. The proceedings against the former sprint star dragged on for years and went through several instances. Pistorius said at the time that he fired several times because he feared there was a burglar behind the door. But the evidence was against him.
The now 37-year-old has served about half of his sentence of 13 years and five months. Under South African law, he is automatically entitled to a parole hearing. According to the correctional authority, Pistorius is scheduled to appear in person on Friday.
June Steenkamp, the mother of the slain Reeva Steenkamp, also submitted a written statement, which her lawyer read to the media gathered outside the prison. “I don’t believe Oscar’s version that he thought the person in the toilet was a burglar,” it said. She is also not convinced that Pistorius has been rehabilitated because he never admitted the truth.
Victim’s mother: “Black hole of pain and loneliness”
Since her daughter was killed, her life has been “an endless black hole of pain and loneliness” that could never be filled, wrote June Steenkamp. Her husband Barry, who died in September after suffering a stroke shortly after the trial began, died of a broken heart.
According to the Department of Corrections, the committee may not reach a decision on the same day. If Pistorius is not released on parole, he has the right to request an appeal.
A parole hearing had already taken place in March. This was initially rejected citing a “bureaucratic error”. However, in October South Africa’s Constitutional Court found that a mistake had been made. The hearing on Friday was the rescheduled, legal date.
At the 2012 Paralympic Games, Pistorius won six gold medals on specially made carbon prostheses. As a child, his legs were amputated below the knees due to a genetic defect.