Sirhan Sirhan, 77, was recommended to be released on parole by a California panel on August 27 after 53 years in prison for murder (Pictured at his parole hearing on August 27)
Robert Kennedy's widow, Ethel Kennedy, 93, released an official statement on Tuesday claiming that her husband's killer Sirhan Sirhan, 77, should not be paroled.
The Kennedy family has been publicly divided since August 27 when a California panel recommended that RFK's assassin Sirhan be granted parole after nearly five decades in prison.
Six of the nine surviving children of the slain New York Senator issued a statement that day announcing that they were 'devastated' by the San Diego panel's ruling.
But two of RFK's children, Douglas Kennedy, 54, and Robert F. Kennedy Jr., 67, have supported Sirhan's parole.
On Tuesday, widow Ethel released an official statement which read: 'Bobby believed we should work to 'tame the savageness of man and make gentle the life of the world.'
'He wanted to end the war in Vietnam and bring people together to build a better, stronger country. More than anything, he wanted to be a good father and loving husband.
'Our family and our country suffered an unspeakable loss due to the inhumanity of one man. We believe in the gentleness that spared his life, but in taming his act of violence, he should not have the opportunity to terrorize again.'
At the bottom of the printed statement she signed, 'He should not be paroled,' and her name.
Although most of the Kennedy family has avoided discussing or engaging with their father's death and Sirhan in public before now, the parole board's recommendation has pushed some of them to 'adamantly oppose the parole and release of Sirhan Sirhan.'
Ethel Kennedy, 77, publicly opposed Sirhan's recommendation for parole in a statement released on Tuesday penning, 'He should not be paroled', in shaky handwriting
Ethel described her husband's death as 'an unspeakable loss to the inhumanity of one man' (Pictured Robert (left) and Ethel Kennedy (right) on their wedding day in Greenwich, Connecticut on June 17, 1950)
Ethel released her official statement on Tuesday writing: 'He should not be paroled'
FOR: Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (left) and Douglas Kennedy (right) have supported Sirhan's recommendation for parole
'We are in disbelief that this man would be recommended for release,' the statement from the six siblings read.
It was signed by Joseph P. Kennedy II, Courtney Kennedy Hill, Kerry Kennedy, Christopher G. Kennedy, Maxwell T. Kennedy and Rory Kennedy who write that the decision has 'inflicted enormous additional pain.'
Rory, RFK's youngest child who was born six months after her father's death, reiterated her stance in an opinion piece published by The New York Times September 1 titled 'The Man Who Murdered My Father Doesn't Deserve Parole.'
She claims that her father's killer has not accepted responsibility or shown remorse for his murderous actions and should not be granted parole. She boldly writes, 'As my father was taken forever, so too should Mr. Sirhan be.'
In her letter she claimed that her mother the majority of her siblings agreed with what she wrote but it was not until Tuesday's statement that Ethel officially made her stance known.
But Douglas Kennedy and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. have spoken in support of Sirhan's parole.
Douglas addressed the two-person panel that recommended that parole be granted during a virtual hearing, according to The
