The Ministry of Justice and Correctional Services has welcomed a court dismissal of former Civil Co-Operation Bureau hitman Ferdi Barnard’s latest attempt to be freed from prison. The North Gauteng High Court yesterday dismissed the application by Barnard following his review application for Minister Michael Masutha’s decision to be set aside and for the court to order his immediate release. Barnard had applied for review and setting aside of the decision of the Minister to decline his release on parole.“The Minister has welcomed the judgment as it reaffirms his long held view that his decision was reasonable and above board. Minister commits to ensuring that his department applies the law fairly in its parole processing‚” the ministry said in a statement.On 4 June 1998‚ after being found guilty of having committed serious crimes‚ including the murder of anti-apartheid activist Dr David Webster‚ who was an anthropologist at the University of Witwatersrand‚ and the attempted murder of Dullah Omar‚ Barnard was sentenced to 2 terms of life and 63 years imprisonment. The murder was committed while Barnard was on parole for a previous murder.Barnard has been trying to get out of jail since last year. His parole requests have been denied by the Minister‚ citing Barnard’s “lack of participation in self-development programmes” among the reasons for his decision...