The former Paralympic athlete was released on parole this Friday, January 5 after spending nine years in prison. Pistorius made a legendary history as the only double amputee to have participated in athletics in both the Olympic Games and the Paralympic Games. But on Valentine's Day 2013, six months after his feat at London 2012, he killed his girlfriend, model Reeva Steenkamp, in a confusing incident at her Pretoria home.
Pistorius's departure from the Atteridgeville Correctional Center in Pretoria occurs after having fulfilled the requirement of the parole hearing, to which he was entitled because the minimum detention time to qualify for this benefit had elapsed.
He is now expected to live in the house of his uncle Arnold Pistorius, and to be subject to a regime of correctional supervision – at least until 2029 – when the 13-year sentence imposed on him by the Supreme Court when the original qualification expires. from the crime of manslaughter, as decided by a court of first instance, to murder.
Under this regime, 'Blade Runner', as Pistorius was known during his sporting career because of the blade-like shape of his carbon fiber prosthetics, is expected to be restricted from speaking to the media.
For her part, June Steenkamp, the model's mother, He issued a statement in which he regretted that the family was “the only one condemned to a life sentence.” He added: “No prison time will bring Reeva back.”
A long legal battle
In February 2013, Pistorius was arrested after shooting his girlfriend to death. Reeva Steenkamp, by shooting him through the closed bathroom door. His argument was always that he believed it was an intruder who entered the house.
Initially, was convicted of manslaughter, a legal term that refers to the death of a person as a result of the negligence or recklessness of another, and was sentenced to five years in prison. But the following year the Prosecutor's Office appealed and the Supreme Court of Appeal annulled the original sentence, when Pistorius was already serving an alternative sentence of house arrest.
The classification of the crime was changed to murderarguing that Pistorius should have foreseen that his actions were potentially fatal—even if they were directed at Steenkamp or an alleged intruder—and sentenced him to six years in prison.
The sentence was found “scandalously lenient” by the Prosecutor's Office, which had requested the minimum of 15 years for the crime of murder, and four months later the Supreme Court adjusted the prison term to 13 years.
In June 2022, Pistorius made a first attempt to regain freedom, when he met with Steenkamp's father, Barry (now deceased), in a victim-aggressor dialogue that is part of the restorative justice model in force in South Africa.
Nine months later, his request to be released for having met the minimum mandatory confinement was rejected when the prison authorities calculated that this deadline had not been met, but in October 2023 that ruling was corrected, and the Constitutional Court determined that Pistorius Yes, he had served half of his sentence.
A contested release in South Africa
Pistorius' release takes place at a time when South Africa is recording alarming figures of gender-based violence and has been criticized by organizations defending women's rights.
Police data reveal that 12 women are murdered every day in the countryand a count of the violations that occurred between March 2022 and March 2023 showed an alarming number of 42,000.
“Considering that I am a woman in the rape capital of the world, I am really disheartened,” Bulelwa Adonis, spokesperson for the non-profit organization Women For Change, told Reuters. “There seems to be a normalized mentality of leniency when it comes to predators, we're talking about an individual who ended a life.”
However, the statement released by the Steenkamp family showed confidence that the conditions of parole were a sign that violence against women was being taken seriously.
Although the full list of terms has not been revealed, it is expected that you will have to attend programs on gender-based violence and anger management. Additionally, it is believed that she will not be allowed to drink alcohol, leave Pretoria or work.
An outstanding legacy on the court
Pistorius earned a place among the greats of Paralympic sport when he managed to win six gold medals: one from Athens 2004, three in Beijing 2008 and two in London 2012impressing the world with his cheetah'sthe revolutionary prosthetics designed in Iceland that made him run faster than any double amputee at the time.
But the South African athlete also conquered fans with his reserved but confident personality, his appearances on shows like 'Dancing with the Stars' or 'Famous Island', and his willingness to break barriers through sport.
In 2007, he ran 45.07 seconds in the 400-meter dash at a competition in Lignano, Italy, a time valid as a minimum mark for the Beijing Olympic Games, but recorded outside the qualifying period. Thus he began his fight to become the first double amputee to compete among conventional athletes in the Olympics.
His aspiration was initially stopped by the IAAF (International Federation of Athletics Associations, today World Athletics), which determined, through scientific tests, that Pistorius had a strong advantage in economy of effort, since he needed a quarter less energy than conventional athletes to accomplish the same tasks.
That argument was dismantled years later by the Court of Arbitration for Sport, to which Pistorius appealed, showing scientific findings from a panel of experts that included another amputee athlete, former climber and MIT researcher Hugh Herr.
This is how he was able to run in London 2012, where he reached the semifinals in the 400 m dash and the finals as part of the South African 4×400 relay.
With Reuters and AP
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