Prosecutors will not challenge release as Robert F Kennedy killer seeks parole

The 77-year-old Sirhan has served 53 years for the first-degree murder of the New York senator and brother of President John F Kennedy.

Sirhan Sirhan (California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation/AP)

Sirhan Sirhan is facing his 16th parole hearing for fatally shooting US senator Robert F Kennedy in 1968 – and for the first time, no prosecutor will be there to argue he should be kept behind bars.

Los Angeles County district attorney George Gascon, a former police officer who took office last year after running on a reform platform, said he idolised the Kennedys and mourned RFK’s assassination, but is sticking to his policy that prosecutors have no role in deciding whether prisoners should be released.