DHAKA: South African apartheid-era death squad commander Eugene de Kock has been granted parole after 20 years in jail.

He was nicknamed ‘Prime Evil’ for his role in the killing and maiming of activists fighting white minority rule in the 1980s and early 1990s.

Justice Minister Michael Masutha said he would be released ‘in the interests of nation-building’.

He was sentenced in 1996 to two life terms in prison and a further 212 years for the crimes he committed, reports the BBC.

A former colonel, De Kock was head of the notorious Vlakplaas police unit.

He appeared before the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) which was established a year after South Africa's first democratic elections in 1994.

He confessed to more than 100 acts of murder, torture and fraud and was granted amnesty for most offences.

But the TRC only had the power to grant amnesty to human rights violators whose crimes were linked to a political motive and who made a full confession.

BDST: 1543 HRS, JAN 30, 2015