The assassin of former United States Attorney General Robert F Kennedy aka RFK, Sirhan Sirhan was granted parole on 16th attempt on Friday. RFK’s sons Robert F Kennedy Jr. and Douglas Kennedy, spoke in favor of his release. After being reviewed over the next 90 days by the California Parole Board’s staff, the ruling will be sent to the governor, who will have 30 days to decide whether to grant it, reverse it or modify it.

Here is all you need to know about Robert F Kennedy’s assassination:

Sirhan, a Palestinian, confessed to the murder during his trial and was sentenced to death on March 3, 1969. Sirhan, on the other hand, has spent the remainder of his life in jail since the California State Supreme Court overturned all death penalty verdicts in 1972.

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Robert F Kennedy, the brother of US President  John F Kennedy was fatally shot on June 6, 1968, at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles moments after delivering a victory speech in the pivotal California primary. He was a Democratic presidential candidate. The killing occurred on the first anniversary of the commencement of Israel’s Six-Day War with its Arab neighbours.

When police arrested Sirhan, they discovered a newspaper item in his pocket about Kennedy’s support for Israel. Sirhan said at his trial that knowing of Kennedy’s support for Israel made him detest the senator.

During a check of his house, a journal was discovered, and he wrote on May 19th.”My determination to eliminate RFK is becoming more and more of an unshakable obsession. RFK must die. RFK must be killed. Robert F. Kennedy must be assassinated … Robert F. Kennedy must be assassinated before 5 June 68.”

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In jail in 1989, he told British television personality David Frost: “My only connection with Robert Kennedy was his sole support of Israel and his deliberate attempt to send those 50 bombers to Israel to obviously do harm to the Palestinians”.

According to some sources, the idea that Sirhan was motivated by Middle Eastern politics is an oversimplification that misses his psychological issues.

“I got to a place where I had to see Sirhan,” Robert Kennedy Jr said, said as per Washington Post reports, without discussing the specifics of the conversation. “I went there because I was curious and disturbed by what I had seen in the evidence. I was disturbed that the wrong person might have been convicted of killing my father. My father was the chief law enforcement officer in this country. I think it would have disturbed him if somebody was put in jail for a crime they didn’t commit,” he added. 

Like the assassination of JFK, Bobby Kennedy’s assassination and the circumstances surrounding it spawned various conspiracy theories. Some believe there was a second gunman involved. These theories revolve around a woman wearing a polka-dot dress claiming responsibility for the crime, and the involvement of the Central Intelligence Agency.