Pistorius Emerges, Quotes Holocaust Survivor

Oscar Pistorius broke his radio silence last night by appearing on Twitter with quotations about love, religious feeling, and a possible allusion to suicide, the Telegraph reports. In his first tweets since killing girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp last year, Pistorius started with a quote from Psalms 34:18: "The Lord is close to the brokenhearted." He then posted a collage of photos of himself with disabled children, and followed with a photographed excerpt from Man's Search for Meaning by Holocaust survivor Victor Frankl. It read in part:

• "In a position of utter desolation, when man cannot express himself in positive action, when his only achievement may consist of ending his sufferings in the right way—an honorable way—in such a position a man can, through loving contemplation of the image he carries of his beloved, achieve fulfillment."

This seeming reference to suicide recalls a court-ordered evaluation he received last month, which warned that Pistorius was having suicidal thoughts that could grow serious if left untreated. The Daily News reports that in his last tweet yesterday, Pistorius posted a photo of a lake with the words: "Lord, today I ask that you bathe those who live in pain in the river of your healing. Amen." The Telegraph notes that these could be fake tweets—Pistorius' account has been hacked before—but they're in sync with his legal strategy of presenting himself as a religious person who has given to society. Final arguments in his case are due to begin on August 8. (More Oscar Pistorius stories.)