Pistorius transferred to house arrest

The celebrity athlete was released Monday night from prison after serving one year for shooting dead his girlfriend, South Africa's prisons department said.

"Oscar Pistorius was placed under correctional supervision tonight," correctional services department spokesman Manelisi Wolela said in a statement. "The handling of the actual placement is an operational matter of the local management, and how they handle it is their prerogative that is carried out in the best interest of all parties concerned."

The 28-year-old amputee will be freed in line with South African sentencing guidelines that say "non-dangerous" prisoners should spend only one-sixth of a custodial sentence behind bars.

Under the terms of his release, Pistorius will be confined to his uncle Arnold's home in a wealthy suburb of the capital, Pretoria.

Shot and killed girlfriend

Pistorius was found guilty by a jury for shooting his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp four times through a locked toilet door at his home in Pretoria in the early hours of Valentine's Day 2013.

She was pronounced dead at the scene.

But Pistorius claimed he thought she was an intruder. He was found guilty of culpable homicide and sentenced October 21, 2014, after a trial that last lasted more than seven months and attracted global attention.

The Steenkamp family maintains that he intentionally killed her. South Africa's Supreme Court of Appeals will hear arguments from the state next month on whether the verdict should be changed from culpable homicide to murder.

Prosecutors will argue that Judge Thokozile Masipa misinterpreted the law when she found that the athlete who found fame in the 2012 Olympic Games had not deliberately shot Steenkamp.

If the supreme court of appeal rules against Pistorius, he could return to his prison cell at Pretoria's Kgosi Mampuru II prison for a minimum of 15 years.

jar/ (AFP, dpa, Reuters, AP)