Body of slain Fortuyn flown to Italy

The remains of Pim Fortuyn, the right-wing politician who was murdered days before the Dutch national elections in May, was flown to Italy today for reburial.

The aircraft carrying the white coffin and 35 relatives and friends was waved off by about 2,000 sympathisers.

The plane circled low over the city where Fortuyn burst on to the political scene late last year with a stunning victory in local elections, then went on to upset the traditional political order in the campaign for national elections.

Fortuyn was shot on May 6, nine days before the vote. Police arrested an environmental and animal rights activist, but the accused man has refused to give a statement to police and the motive for the murder remains a mystery.

Fortuyn, who received several death threats during the campaign, expressed a wish to be buried near his holiday home in the Italian village of Provesano.

His remains were exhumed on Friday from the family plot where they were temporarily placed in a funeral on May 10.

A motorcade followed by scores of motorcycles brought the coffin from Driehuis, near Haarlem, to Rotterdam, where it stayed in the airport chapel overnight.