JOHANNESBURG — Oscar Pistorius, the Paralympic gold medalist who was found guilty of culpable homicide in the killing of his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp, will leave prison Tuesday after serving about one year of his five-year sentence, South African officials said
JOHANNESBURG — Oscar Pistorius, the Paralympic gold medalist who was found guilty of culpable homicide in the killing of his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp, will leave prison Tuesday after serving about one year of his five-year sentence, South African officials said Thursday.
Pistorius’ release was delayed several times; he was originally scheduled to leave prison in August.
The South African Department of Correctional Services said in a statement that he would spend the remainder of his sentence, about four years, under house arrest and “correctional supervision.”
The parole board made its decision in the face of pressure from Steenkamp’s family, who argued publicly that Pistorius, 28, had not served enough time in prison for the killing.
The Corrections Department announced in June that Pistorius would be released from prison for good behavior and placed under house arrest beginning Aug. 21. Under South African law, Pistorius was eligible for early release after serving a minimum of one-sixth of his sentence.
But in addition to Steenkamp’s family, women’s groups criticized the decision and pressed the justice minister, Michael Masutha, to block Pistorius’ release. Masutha intervened in August to delay it, saying that the parole board had erred in taking up Pistorius’ case before the minimum time had been served.
Pistorius’ family then began pressing the authorities to end the delays, which they said were politically motivated.
“This experience leaves us with the uncomfortable conclusion that the public, political and media hype that was allowed to develop around Oscar’s trial has undermined his right to be treated like any other prisoner,” the family said in a statement last week.
Pistorius, a double-amputee athlete known as the Blade Runner because of his prosthetic legs, was convicted last year in a trial that was watched around the world. He shot Steenkamp in the locked bathroom of his home in February 2013. Prosecutors and Steenkamp’s family argued that Pistorius had killed her deliberately after an argument; he maintained that he had mistaken her for a burglar.
The charge on which he was convicted, culpable homicide, is the South African equivalent of manslaughter. Prosecutors filed an appeal in the case that is scheduled to be heard in November.
