South African Olympic sprinter Oscar Pistorius, who is halfway through serving a 13½-year sentence for the 2013 murder of his girlfriend, is up for parole and could meet with the victim’s parents as part of the process.

June and Barry Steenkamp, the parents of Reeva Steenkamp, were “shocked and surprised” when they were informed of Pistorius’s parole eligibility last month, said Tania Koen, a lawyer for the victim’s family. Pistorius had been up for potential early release since April, she wrote in an email.

Koen declined to comment on what the Steenkamps might say to Pistorius if they meet. June had forgiven Pistorius “because of her faith,” she said and Barry “finds it difficult but is ready to start a dialogue.”

Reeva Steenkamp, a model, and paralegal, was murdered by Pistorius, one of South Africa’s most famous athletes, a year after he became the first amputee runner to compete in the Olympics at the 2012 London Games. Pistorius, who was nicknamed the “Blade Runner” and competed with blade-shaped prosthetics after becoming a double amputee as a child, has also won six Paralympic gold medals.

The couple had dated for several months before Pistorius fatally shot Steenkamp through a locked bathroom door in his flat in Pretoria. He claimed in court that he had mistaken his girlfriend, then 29, for a burglar.

Pistorius, who was convicted of manslaughter before being found guilty of murder, was eventually given the decade-plus sentence after a top South African court found his previous term of six years to be “shockingly lenient.” Earlier reports had said the athlete would only be eligible for parole in March 2023, but that did not take into account the time he had already served.

Speaking at a sentencing hearing for Pistorius in 2016, a visibly emotional Barry Steenkamp told the court that while the Steenkamps forgave Pistorius for killing their daughter, “forgiving … does not exonerate you from the crime you committed.”

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South African authorities practice a policy of “restorative justice” and say that having victims meet with offenders can help empower the former while also preventing recidivism. (Victims may decline to be part of the process.)

The parole process will also require reports from psychologists and social workers on the extent of Pistorius’s rehabilitation and remorse, said Koen, the attorney for the Steenkamps.

“They accept [that seeking parole] is part of our law [and] that an offender who has served a certain portion of their sentence is eligible to be considered,” she wrote in an email, adding that her clients were waiting to hear from parole authorities on a possible meeting date.

Pistorius’s attorney did not respond to a request for comment.