The governor of California must decide on the release of Sirhan Sirhan, a Palestinian of 77 years sentenced to life. Six of the children of RFK reject the clemency, unlike two of his sons, one of whom is convinced that it is a security guard who killed his father.
By
In early January, the governor of California, Gavin Newsom, found the file waiting for a decision on his desk: the early release of Sirhan Sirhan, the Palestinian who serves a prison sentence for the assassination of Robert Kennedy. In June 1968. On 27 August, the State Parole Board approved the release of the convict, now 77 years. The governor must now approve or reject this recommendation. Its decision is very awaited.
Gavin Newsom does not know anything about the emotional load of the subject. “People do not only express an opinion on the record,” he explained after the opinion of the Commission. They express the memory of a period of stress, anxiety and injury. “For American society, the 1968 was that of rehearsal trauma. 4th of April: Assassination of Martin Luther King, followed by riots in 125 cities of the country; June 6: Assassination of Robert Kennedy, less than five years after the Dallas attack against his brother John, President of the United States; At the end of August: Brutal repression of student manifestations against the Vietnam War, in Chicago, where the Democratic Party Convention stands. “People want to relegate these memories, and rightly,” said the Californian elected.
Attacked in the kitchens of a hotel
Gavin Newsom was not yet one year in June 1968, but he revered RFK (Robert Francis Kennedy), who is, “he said,” his political hero “. In his office, the Democrat retains a photo of his father, William Judge Newsom, with the former Justice Minister John Kennedy. On June 5, Bob Kennedy, Senator of New York since 1965, had just won the Primary Democrat for the November 1968 presidential election when he was attacked in the kitchens of the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles. It campaigned against the Vietnam War, and against poverty. He was reached three balls. His wife Ethel was at his side, pregnant of their e child.
Sirhan Sirhan was sentenced to death in 1969, then spared with the suspension of executions in 1972 in the Golden State. At fifteen times, he filed an early release application, each time refused. Until August 2021, when the Commission considered that the septuagenarian was no longer a danger for the public. New regulations have also forced it to take into account the trauma experienced in the Middle East by the young Sirhan, Christian born in Jerusalem and Jordanian nationality, which was only 24 years old at the time of the facts.
You have 60.86% of this article to be read. The rest is reserved for subscribers.