Fortuyn killer was 'protecting Dutch muslims'

The man who confessed to killing Dutch politician Pim Fortuyn today 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 today, 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!” to press for a tough sentence.

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, saying he had been worried Fortuyn was gaining too much power and posed a threat to “vulnerable members of society”.

He is charged with premeditated murder and faces life in prison if convicted. During several days of hearings at a high-security courtroom nicknamed The Bunker, judges will consider his mental state at the time of the shooting and whether he can be held accountable for his actions.

Fortuyn, a brash gay academic and columnist, swiftly gained popularity with calls to close the borders to newcomers, at one time calling Islam a “backward religion”. His party won more than 10% of the electorate and a place in the three-party right-wing governing coalition.

After its unprecedented rise in power, bickering in Fortuyn’s party led to the fall of the government and fresh elections in January. With coalition talks ongoing, political stability has yet to returned to the country.

A graduate of the country’s leading agriculture university, Van der Graaf went on to become a tough and successful lawyer against commercial animal farming. At the time of the murder, he lived with his long-time girlfriend and baby daughter.

In prison, he went on hunger strike for more than two months to protest against round-the-clock camera surveillance in his cell.