Former South African Paralympic champion Oscar Pistorius, convicted of the murder of his partner Reeva Steenkamp ten years ago, will be scheduled for possible conditional release on Friday following a review of his request.
• Read also: Oscar Pistorius will remain in prison
The commission in charge of early releases “will examine the case of Oscar Pistorius on Friday November 24, 2023” in Pretoria, the Department of Prison Services announced in a press release on Monday.
It “will determine whether or not the inmate is suitable for social reintegration,” he continues. If approved, the conditional release date will be set by the same commission.
In March, a first request was rejected, after an imbroglio around the proportion of the prison sentence already served by the inmate. South African law provides that a convict can, once half of his sentence has expired, be granted conditional release.
Pistorius having been convicted at first instance, then several times on appeal, the prison services estimated that, according to a count on the date of the last conviction, he had not served half of his sentence.
But the Constitutional Court contradicted this version, ruling last month that the counting should begin on the date the convicted murderer was first put behind bars.
On the night of February 13 to 14, 2013, the South African athlete, soon to be 37 years old, killed his partner, the model Reeva Steenkamp, 29 years old, by shooting a rifle through the door of the bathroom of his room, in his ultra-secure residence in Pretoria.
A year earlier, the six-time Paralympic champion nicknamed “Blade runner” in reference to his carbon prostheses, had entered sporting legend by aligning himself with the able-bodied in the 400 meters of the London Olympic Games, a first for a double amputee .
Arrested in the early morning, he pleaded misunderstanding, claiming to have believed that an intruder had broken into his home.
Oscar Pistorius was sentenced in 2014, at first instance, to five years in prison for manslaughter, following a trial lasting several months broadcast live on television.
The prosecution appealed and requested a reclassification for murder. A new sentence of six years’ imprisonment was handed down in 2016, a sentence still considered too lenient by the prosecution.
Putting an end to a long legal saga in an extraordinary case, the Supreme Court of Appeal finally sentenced Oscar Pistorius, in November 2017, to 13 years and 5 months.