It comes just four days before the six-time Paralympic champion is due to be released from jail having served 10 months of a five-year sentence for shooting dead his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp in 2013. 

Pistorius was handed his sentence last October on a verdict of culpable homicide but prosecutors want the charge, equivalent to manslaughter, upgraded to murder which carries a minimum 15-year prison term.

The double amputee insists that he mistook Steenkamp for an intruder when he fired four shots through a bathroom door on Valentine’s Day in 2013.

Prosecutors say Pistorius knew there was someone hiding behind the door when he fired, and that this amounts to the level of intent required for murder.

The South African athlete’s defence team now has until September 17 to file its response, with the appeal hearing expected in November. 

Judge Thokozile Masipa said during sentencing that the state had failed to prove Pistorius' intent to kill when he pulled the trigger.

It will be up to five judges to decide whether Judge Masipa interpreted the law correctly when she found him not guilty of murder.

Pistorius is set to leave prison on Friday (August 21), but he will still be under the control of the Department of Correctional Services.

His terms for supervision have not been made public, but he will reportedly be under house arrest at his uncle’s home in Waterkloof, Pretoria.

It is expected that he will have to undertake community service, undergo regular mental health checks and also refrain from drinking alcohol. 

Pistorius is unlikely to be able to leave South Africa as part of his initial supervision, meaning that he will struggle to resume his athletics career straight away.

The International Paralympic Committee ruled in October that Pistorius will not be able to compete at any major event, including Rio 2016, for five years, even if he was to be released before his five-year sentence is complete. 

Steenkamp's parents have said that 10 months in jail is "not enough for taking a life".


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