Arrest
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Janusz Waluś, the man who murdered anti-apartheid leader Chris Hani in 1993, is all set to walk free on parole today after a top court of South Africa ordered his release.

The decision has sparked an outcry in the country and condemnation from Hani's family members.

Waluś and his partner Clive Derby-Lewis had shot dead Hani, one of the most popular Communist party leaders, just a year before the apartheid-divided nation was set to hold its first multiracial elections. He was initially sentenced to death, but it was commuted to life imprisonment after South Africa abolished the death penalty. Clive was released in 2015 and died from cancer the next year.

Waluś plea for parole was overturned and rejected several times, the last being in the year 2020. However, on Monday, Raymond Zondo, constitutional court chief justice, issued an order to justice minister Ronald Lamola to place Waluś "on parole on such terms and conditions as he may deem appropriate". Zondo added that he will be released within 10 days from the date of the parole announcement.

While noting that Waluś "was convicted of very serious crime ... cold-blooded murder", Zondo said that he was entitled to parole under law.

In assassinating Chris Hani, Waluś "seemed to have been intent on derailing the attainment of democracy by this country", said Zondo.

The victim, Hani, had been the general secretary of the South African Communist Party (SACP) and chief of staff of the armed wing of the ruling African National Congress (ANC). On Apr. 10, 1993, in a suburb east of Johannesburg, he was shot dead by Waluś and Clive in the driveway of his own house.

Hani's family had been the strongest and most vocal force in condemning Waluś's parole. Hani's widow Limpho has condemned the ruling as "truly diabolical", according to reports.

"This judgment is diabolical, totally diabolical," Limpho was quoted as having told a local news channel. "This court has not even addressed the victims."

SACP leader Sally Mapaila, a political alliance of the ruling party African National Congress (ANC) dubbed the judgment as 'injustice'. "An injustice has occurred today through justice," Mapaila told reporters.

Chrispin Phiri, the spokesman for the justice services ministry, said: "A decision has been made by the court, we will have to consider it and apply it."