South African former Paralympic star Oscar Pistorius was released on parole on Friday, January 5th, nearly 11 years after murdering his girlfriend in a crime that shocked a nation long inured to violence against women.

Pistorius - dubbed "Blade Runner" for his carbon fiber prosthetic legs - shot 29-year-old model Reeva Steenkamp dead through a locked bathroom door on Valentine's Day in 2013.

He has repeatedly said he mistook Steenkamp for an intruder when he fired four shots into the bathroom at his Pretoria home, and he launched multiple appeals against his conviction on that basis.

A monitoring official will keep an eye on him until his sentence expires in December 2029, whom Pistorius will have to inform if he seeks job opportunities or moves to a new address.

He is also required to continue therapy on anger management and attend sessions on gender-based violence as part of his parole conditions, the Steenkamp family has said.

Pistorius was once the darling of the sports world, and a pioneering voice for disabled athletes, for whom he campaigned to be allowed to compete with able-bodied participants at major sports events.

In August 2012, months before shooting his girlfriend, Pistorius became the first double amputee to compete at the London Olympics, where he made it to the 400m semi-finals.

He won two gold medals at the Paralympics.

He was first jailed for five years in October 2014 for culpable homicide by a high court. After his prosecutors appealed that ruling, the Supreme Court of Appeal found him guilty of murder in December 2015. But he only got six years when he was sentenced in July 2016, despite prosecutors arguing for a minimum sentence of 15 years.

Then in November 2017 the Supreme Court of Appeal more than doubled his sentence to 13 years and five months, describing his earlier term as lenient.