Prosecutors Appealing Oscar Pistorius Sentence in South Africa

Prosecutors in South Africa are appealing the Oscar Pistorius verdict and sentence.

CNN is quoting National Prosecuting Authority spokesman Nathi Mncube as saying that appeals paperwork has been filed.

Judge Thokozile Matilda Masipa sentenced Pistorius to five years in jail after finding him guilty of "culpable homicide" for the 2013 murder of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp.

Prosecutors are hoping to have Pistorius convicted of a charge more serious than "culpable homicide," and therefore sentenced to a longer prison term.

The practice of appealing a conviction in an attempt to get a harsher sentence is not permitted in the United States.  South African law permits it, however, and prosecutors have said that they believe the judge put too much emphasis on the personal circumstances of Pistorius, an Olympic and Paralympic athlete who has been a double amputee since the age of eleven months.

Pistorius is serving his sentence in the hospital section of the Kgosi Mampuru II jail in Pretoria.