The governor of California on Thursday rejected the parole of Sirhan Sirhan, the assassin of Robert Kennedy in 1968, to which a specialized commission had nevertheless given the green light last summer.
“A threat to public safety”
Governor Gavin Newsom notably considered that the detainee, aged 77, still constituted “a threat to public safety” and that he refused “to accept his responsibility in this crime”, notes a press release from his services.
Sirhan Sirhan, 77 years old today, was found guilty on April 17, 1969 of the murder of the senator from New York, younger brother of John Fitzgerald Kennedy. He was sentenced to death but his sentence was commuted to life imprisonment in 1972, following a brief abolition of capital punishment in California.
Last August, the California parole board finally gave its approval for Sirhan Sirhan’s release from prison, after having refused it fifteen times. This decision then had to be submitted to the governor who had the power to refuse or modify it.
He still hasn’t corrected the flaws that led him to assassinate Senator Kennedy
“The assassination of Senator Kennedy by Mr. Sirhan is among the most notorious crimes in American history,” Governor Newsom wrote in the statement. “After decades in prison, he still hasn’t corrected the flaws that led him to assassinate Senator Kennedy. Mr. Sirhan does not have the lucidity necessary to prevent him from making the same dangerous decisions as in the past”, he continues.
Palestinian immigrant Sirhan Sirhan had assassinated “Bobby” Kennedy at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles, while the senator was campaigning for the Democratic nomination for the presidential election. Five other people were injured. The murderer had at the time justified his gesture by the support given by Robert Kennedy to the sale of military planes to Israel.
During his previous parole application in 2016, Mr Sirhan said he had drunk too much the night of the crime and wished “nothing had happened”. He had also assured that the confessions during his trial were made by a lawyer who had badly advised him and had convinced him that he was guilty.