1704531929
South Africa
Former South African Paralympic champion Oscar Pistorius left prison on Friday, almost 11 years after the murder of his partner Reeva Steenkamp. Women’s movements believe his early release sends the wrong message.
Pistorius, 37, has served more than half of his sentence and was allowed to leave Atteridgeville Prison in a suburb of the capital Pretoria on Friday morning. Pistorius was not allowed to make any statements. According to local media, he would be staying with his uncle Arnold Pistorius in a wealthy suburb of Pretoria.
Pistorius killed his girlfriend by shooting four times through a toilet door on the night of February 13-14, 2013. He denied killing her in a fit of rage and maintained throughout the trial that he believed an intruder had broken into the house. In 2017 he was sentenced to thirteen years in prison.
In November it was announced that Pistorius would be released on parole. He must undergo therapy for anger management and violence against women. Steenkamp’s family did not officially protest the release, but Reeva’s mother noted that she still does not believe the version of events that Pistorius defended.
“There can never be justice if your loved one never comes back, and no punishment will bring Reeva back. We who are left behind are the ones serving a life sentence,” said June Steenkamp.
“False signal”
His early release also sparked mixed feelings elsewhere in the country. In South Africa, violence against women is anything but a unique phenomenon. According to the organization Women for Change, the release of Pistorius sends the wrong signal to possible perpetrators. “We have only seen an increase in statistics since 2013, it has only gotten worse,” spokesperson Bulelwa Adonis told The Guardian. “It seems to us that our government is not taking gender-based violence seriously.”
Pistorius, who had both legs amputated as a baby, won numerous medals as a runner at the Paralympic Games. However, he only really made sporting history at the 2012 Olympic Games in London, when he became the first athlete to take part in the 400-meter run with artificial legs. This is how the whole world found out about “Blade Runner”.
#Blade #Runner #Oscar #Pistorius #left #prison #Wrong #signal