Pistorius is scheduled for house arrest on Friday, which would complete 10 months in Kgosi Mampuru II prison and finish one-sixth of his five-year sentence on a culpable homicide conviction in the shooting death of girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp.
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Justice department spokesman Mthunzi Mhaga said the board made their decision before the athlete was even eligible for parole.
The parole board made the decision to release Pistorius on June 5 2015, when Pistorius had served just over six months of his five-year sentence.
But the Ministry of Justice and Correctional Services said on Wednesday that the parole decision had been made in June, when Mr. Pistorius was still ineligible for release, so it was invalid.
The minister said he received a petition from the Progressive Women’s Movement of South Africa, opposing Pistorius’ release on parole, saying it flouted the rules.
South Africa’s justice minister on Wednesday ordered a review of Oscar Pistorius’ pending parole, meaning the former Olympian probably won’t be granted a transfer from prison to house arrest this week as had been expected.
State prosecutors want his conviction to be reviewed and converted to murder, with a minimum sentence of 15 years.
On Valentine’s Day, 2013, Oscar Pistorius shot and killed Reeva Steenkamp in his Pretoria, South Africa, home. He says he needs to know if the release is lawful – and whether he has the legal power to intervene.
Pistorius, 28, landed in prison after an epic trial during which the athlete, who became a national hero when he competed in the London Olympics on specially designed prosthetic leg blades, was yanked from his pedestal. “Oscar Pistorius could argue that he is being treated unfairly”.
Ulrich Roux, a prominent criminal defense lawyer, said the minister’s decision was “procedurally correct” but its timing was “bizarre”.
He can only be released if the review board upholds the original decision to grant him parole. He is expected to stay at his uncle Arnold Pistorius’s home in Pretoria’s upmarket Waterkloof suburb.
If Pistorius is released on Friday, it will be two days after what would have been Steenkamp’s 32nd birthday. For instance, Legal Aid South Africa estimates that about 10,000 people have been awarded bail by the courts but can not afford it, and as a result remain confined to the prison system despite its dangers. But they typically include some form of house arrest, electronic monitoring, community service, required employment – and no alcohol, drugs or firearms.
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Throughout his trial, Pistorius maintained he shot his lover multiple times through a locked bathroom door after mistaking her for an intruder.
