Oscar Pistorius' new parole hearing set for Friday

Former paralympic champion Oscar Pistorius who was condemned for the murder of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp will be apprised of his fate on Friday (Nov.24) .

South Africa's department of corrections said in a statement that a parole board will consider Pistorius' case again this week and decide “whether the inmate is suitable or not for social integration."

The former Olympic champion was condemned for killing, in 2013, his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp. At his murder trial, he claimed he shot the 29-year-old model, by mistake with his licensed pistol, because he believed she was an intruder hiding in the bathroom.

Serious offenders in South Africa must serve at least half their sentence before they are eligible for parole.

Pistorius' case and his parole eligibility have been complicated by several appeals by prosecutors, who first challenged his culpable homicide conviction and then a sentence of six years for murder, which they called shockingly lenient.

The Supreme Court of Appeal eventually ruled in 2017 that Pistorius should serve South Africa's minimum sentence of 15 years for murder but took into account the year and seven months he had already served for culpable homicide when it delivered the 13 years and five months sentence.

Pistorius is not guaranteed to be granted early release. A parole board takes several factors into account, including his conduct and disciplinary record in prison, his mental health and the likelihood of him committing another crime.

After Friday's parole hearing, it could be decided that the former athlete shall remain in prison, be released on full parole or placed on day parole.

Pistorius, a world-famous double-amputee athlete who broke barriers by competing on carbon-fiber running blades at the 2012 London Olympics, has been in prison since late 2014 for the shooting death of girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp. He was initially convicted of culpable homicide, an offense comparable to manslaughter, for shooting Steenkamp multiple times with his licensed 9 mm pistol through a closed toilet cubicle door in his home in the South African capital, Pretoria, in the predawn hours of Valentine's Day 2013.