Ethel Kennedy, widow of Robert F. Kennedy, says Sirhan Sirhan “should not be released on parole”

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“Our family and our country suffered an indescribable loss due to the inhumanity of a man,” Kennedy, 93, said in a statement from Sirhan Sirhan, who was convicted of the murder of her husband. in 1968. “We believe in the delicacy that saved his life, but by taming his act of violence, he should not have the opportunity to terrorize again.”

“He should not be released on parole,” he said.

Although a two-person court in California recommended parole for Sirhan, the decision is not final. The council’s decision could be overturned by Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom, who will determine if the grant is consistent with public safety, a process that could take a few months.

Two of Kennedy’s surviving children, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Douglas Kennedy, supported the release during Sirhan’s 16th appearance before the parole board, but several other family members have strongly opposed the decision.

“In the face of today’s unexpected recommendation from the California parole board after 15 previous decisions to deny release, we feel compelled to make our position clear. We strongly oppose parole and Sirhan’s release. Sirhan and we are surprised by a sentence we believe ignores the rules for the parole of a first-degree confessed killer in the state of California, “Kennedy’s children, Joseph P., Courtney, said in a statement last month. Kerry, Christopher, Maxwell and Rory.

“But beyond us, six of Robert Kennedy’s nine surviving children, Sirhan Sirhan committed a crime against our nation and its people. He took our father from our family and brought him from America,” they said. write.

Sirhan shot Kennedy in the kitchen of the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles after a campaign event in which Kennedy celebrated the primary victories in his career for the Democratic candidacy for president in 1968.

Sirhan was sentenced to death for murder, but his sentence was commuted to life in 1972 after the California Supreme Court declared the death penalty unconstitutional.

Sirhan’s lawyer Angela Berry provided sentencing memoirs focusing on her client’s youth at the time of the murder (he was 24) and his childhood. Describing Sirhan as a Palestinian who became a refugee at age 4, the memoranda say he “witnessed atrocities that most of us only see in movies or our worst nightmares” before emigrating to the States. United when I was a teenager.

At last month’s hearing, Sirhan was asked what he would say about people who believe he is angry after decades behind bars.

“I don’t agree with them,” he said. “I’m grateful to have saved my life from the gas chamber. I value my life so much … It would never put me in danger again.”

CNN’s Ray Sanchez and Cheri Mossburg contributed to this report.

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