JOHANNESBURG, South Africa -- South African Olympian Oscar Pistorius on Tuesday lost a bid to prevent the live broadcast of his murder trial next week in the death of his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp.
Under a High Court ruling Tuesday, the bulk of the athlete's trial can be televised and audio from all the proceedings can be broadcast. However, Judge Dunstan Mlambo ruled that there would be no television coverage of Pistorius' testimony nor that of his defense witnesses.
Evidence provided by expert witnesses will be televised, but the court could refuse to allow other testimony to be filmed, if requested.
It will be the first time that South African court proceedings will be televised. The decision follows chaotic media scrums because of limited access at the Pretoria court where Pistorius' bail hearing took place last year.
In parts of the United States, courts have long allowed trials to be televised.
Mlambo said denying permission to broadcast this case, as requested by Pistorius, would "jettison the noble principles of open justice."
"Court proceedings are in fact public, and this objective must be recognized," he said.
Mlambo noted that the South African justice system "is still perceived as treating the rich and famous with kid cloves, whilst being harsh on the poor and vulnerable."
"Enabling a larger South African society to follow first-hand the criminal proceedings which involve a celebrity, so to speak, will go a long way into dispelling these negative and unfounded perceptions about the justice system," he said.
Pistorius, a double amputee known as South Africa's "Blade Runner," made Olympics history as the first sprinter to compete using prosthetic blades.
He is accused of fatally shooting his girlfriend through a door in the bathroom of his Pretoria apartment during an argument in the early hours of Valentine's Day last year. He admits firing, but says he mistook Steenkamp -- a model, lawyer and reality TV figure -- for a burglar.
Whether a tragic accident or a deliberate attack, the case has divided South Africans and enthralled global audiences. Several hundred journalists from around the world are expected to cover the trial, which begins Monday.
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