Apartheid assassin 'Prime Evil' wins parole

De Kock (pictured above left), who had been sentenced to two life terms plus 212 years in prison, was being paroled "in the interest of nation-building and reconciliation," South African Justice Minister Michael Masutha told a news conference on Friday.

Masutha added that de Kock had also expressed remorse at his crimes and had aided authorities in finding the remains of some of his victims.

De Kock was convicted in 1996 on 89 charges, including six counts of murder, relating to his activities as head of the so-called "Vlakplaas" police death squad, which abducted, tortured and murdered a number of black South African anti-apartheid activists in the 1980s and early 1990s.

In his 1997-1998 testimony before the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, set up after the abolition of apartheid to consider amnesty for those who confessed to crimes committed under the system of racial segregation, de Kock admitted to more than 100 acts of murder, torture and fraud.

A scapegoat?

De Kock himself has claimed he was a scapegoat for crimes committed by the National Party in its bid to maintain the apartheid system, introduced to South Africa in 1948.

"Not one of the previous generals or ministers who were in Cabinet up to 1990 have been prosecuted at all," he wrote in a court appeal after being denied parole last year.

De Kock had been eligible for parole consideration for more than seven years.

During his time in prison, he has written letters to victims' relatives begging forgiveness and cooperated with officials in recovering the bodies of those killed.

tj/gb (AFP, Reuters)