JOHANNESBURG (AP) — A South African judge has ordered the correctional services ministry to decide within 30 days whether to grant parole to the former head of a covert police unit that tortured and killed dozens of people during white rule.

Judge Thokozile Masipa ruled Wednesday in the case of Eugene de Kock, who confessed to murder and other crimes and was sentenced to life in prison. He has been in jail since 1994, when apartheid ended.