Oscar Pistorius will be released on parole on October 20, about a year after he was sentenced to five years for killing his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp.

The South African department of correctional services said in a statement that Mr Pistorius would be placed under house arrest from Tuesday.

The Olympic and Paralympic track star is behind bars in the capital, Pretoria, after being convicted last in September last year after a seven-month trial.

Mr Pistorius was convicted of culpable homicide, the equivalent of manslaughter, after he fired four 9mm shots through a locked toilet door on February14, 2013, killing model and law graduate Steenkamp. Mr Pistorius, a Paralympic gold medalist, was due to have been released on parole in August after serving 10 months but Justice Minister Michael Masutha blocked his release, saying the parole hearing had been held prematurely.

At a globally televised trial Mr Pistorius argued that he had mistaken Ms Steenkamp for a burglar.

Prosecutors are appealing the culpable homicide verdict, arguing it should be murder because Mr Pistorius must have known that the person behind the door could be killed.

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