Oscar Pistorius to Be Released From Prison on Parole

Former Paralympic champion and convicted murderer Oscar Pistorius has been granted parole and will be released from prison next year.

Pistorius, who was serving a 13-year sentence in a South African jail for the 2013 murder of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp, will be released on Jan. 5. According to the BBC, once Pistorius is released he will be monitored by authorities until his sentence expires and will be required to attend therapy sessions.

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Pistorius was convicted of shooting Stenkamp multiple times through a bathroom door, claiming that he believed her to be an intruder. He was initially found not guilty of murder and instead charged with culpable homicide, for which he served one year of a five-year prison sentence. The Supreme Court of Appeal of South Africa later overturned that sentence and convicted him of murder, extending his sentence to six years. After an appeal, his sentence was once again lengthened to 13 years and five months. The former athlete became eligible for parole earlier this year, but was initially denied in March.

The case has fascinated popular culture, leading to the Amazon Prime four-part docuseries “Pistorius” in 2018, and one on ESPN+ titled “The Life and Trials of Oscar Pistorius,” which aired in 2020. A new docuseries, “My Name Is Reeva,” was sold by Keshet International to Channel 4 in the U.K. and SBS in Australia earlier this year.

“’My Name is Reeva’ is a sensitively told three-part series produced by an international team of talented creatives,” Kelly Wright, Keshet International’s managing director of distribution, said of the docuseries. “We are pleased to have enabled this important docuseries to find a home with Channel 4 in the U.K. and SBS in Australia, where I’m sure audiences will be as moved as I was to see the impact of the victim-offender dialogue on Reeva’s ageing parents and their ongoing quest for justice.”

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