 |
| Blanton has been in jail since he was convicted of the bombing 15 years ago |
An Alabama parole board has ruled
that a Ku Klux Klan member who killed four black girls in 1963 by
bombing a church in the US state should not be released from jail for at
least five years.
He was part of a group that blew up a Baptist church in Birmingham, killing an 11 year old and three 14 year-olds. His former prosecutor said he had never expressed remorse.
Eyewitnesses talk about the Birmingham church bombing
Two other men convicted of the bombing have since died in prison. The group bombed the 16th Avenue Baptist church, which was being used as a meeting place by black civil rights leaders, in an attempt to maintain racial separation in the southern states of the US.
Public schools in the city were facing an order to desegregate - to educate black and white children together at the time. The deaths of Denise McNair, Addie Mae Collins, Carole Robertson and Cynthia Morris (also known as Cynthia Wesley) were a defining moment in the civil rights era.
Blanton can be considered for parole again in five years' time. Black leaders in the US have opposed his release, and members of the victims' families spoke at the hearing to argue that he should stay behind bars.