Fortuyn ‘killed to protect Muslims’

THE man who confessed to killing Dutch politician Pim Fortuyn yesterday told a court he did it to protect the country’s Muslim minority from Fortuyn’s anti-immigration policies.

Volkert van der Graaf, a 33-year-old animal rights activist, was arrested moments after Fortuyn was gunned down in a car park outside a radio studio on May 6, 2002, just days before a general election.

At the start of his trial yesterday, he openly answered questions about the motives behind the first political assassination in modern Dutch history.

Although Van der Graaf confessed, under Dutch law prosecutors need to present their case to a panel of judges. There are no jury trials in the Netherlands.

Wearing a purple shirt and khakis, Van der Graaf appeared relaxed and confident. He briefly scanned the public gallery for familiar faces, avoiding eye contact with Fortuyn’s two brothers, Marten and Simon, who were sitting just a few yards away.

“(The idea) was never concrete until the last moment, the day before the attack,” Van der Graaf said, “I confess to the shooting.” He also confessed to illegal possession of firearms and sending Fortuyn threats before carrying out the attack.

Van der Graaf said he had followed Fortuyn’s career as a columnist for a popular national magazine and had was concerned he was using “the weak parts of society to score points” and gain political power.

Muslims in the Netherlands were being used as “scapegoats,” he said. “I saw it as a danger, but what should you do about it?” he said “I hoped that I could solve it myself.”

Separated from the courtroom by bullet-proof glass, onlookers continuously interrupted the proceedings, denouncing Van der Graaf as a murderer and chanting “Life! Life!”.

Van der Graaf was caught with the murder weapon in his pocket and spatters of Fortuyn’s blood on his trousers. In November, he admitted carrying out the murder. He is charged with premeditated murder. The trial is expected to last four days.