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Fortuyn killer was 'protecting Dutch muslims'
BreakingNews.ie ^ | 3/27/2003 | Wire/BreakingNews.ie

Posted on 03/27/2003 9:50:05 AM PST by Murtyo

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.


TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: assasination; balkans; dutch; fortuyn; hague; holland; icty; nato; netherlands
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1 posted on 03/27/2003 9:50:05 AM PST by Murtyo
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To: knighthawk
ping.

Looks like he wasn't upset that Fortuyn would 'destroy the environment' after all...
2 posted on 03/27/2003 9:51:02 AM PST by Black Agnes
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To: Murtyo; *balkans
Volkert van der Graaf, a 33-year-old animal rights activist

Yeah right. It was an expert shot, followed by massive media denigration campaign aimed at Pim Fortuyn character. That can not be accomplished by deranged 'lone gunmen'.

Pim Fortuyn was not against Muslims. Many Duch Muslims were his voters. He was dangerous to Dutch liberal elites, he was against show trial in Den Hague taking place in Holland.

this trial will be used to obfuscate things even further.

3 posted on 03/27/2003 9:58:45 AM PST by DTA
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To: Murtyo
he did it to protect the country’s muslim minority from Fortuyn’s anti-immigration policies.

As all Leftists, the killer is not only malicious --- he is also dishonest with himself: why do Muslims that are already in the country need protection from immigration policies. Nah, he simply hated Fortuyn because Fortuyn stood in his way.

4 posted on 03/27/2003 9:59:34 AM PST by TopQuark
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To: knighthawk
Sorry, I meant to ping you in #4...
Hope all is well with you, KnightHawk.
5 posted on 03/27/2003 10:00:44 AM PST by TopQuark
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To: Mark17
Ping.
6 posted on 03/27/2003 10:01:33 AM PST by ambrose
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To: Murtyo
I was wondering when the Muslim connection was going to come out.
7 posted on 03/27/2003 10:05:17 AM PST by shhrubbery!
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To: Black Agnes
Is by chance Van der Graaf a practitioner of The Religion of Peace?
8 posted on 03/27/2003 10:23:52 AM PST by gridlock (Pee on a protester. It's fun! Do it today!)
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To: DTA
this trial will be used to obfuscate things even further.

Yep.

9 posted on 03/27/2003 11:25:01 AM PST by Shermy
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To: ambrose
I know, another peaceful person.
10 posted on 03/27/2003 12:15:38 PM PST by Mark17
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To: Shermy
Ping
11 posted on 03/27/2003 2:53:44 PM PST by knighthawk
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To: Black Agnes
He was a leftie, but the left didn't wanted to hear that they created a killer thanks to their demonization of Fortuyn.
12 posted on 03/27/2003 2:54:49 PM PST by knighthawk
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To: TopQuark
I am fine, thanks.

I miss Fortuyn. But he still managed to pull enough people to the right side, we even support the war in Iraq, qith or without the UN. Before Fortuyn, such a thing was unthinkable.

His party is slowly dying though. But a lot of people still believe in what he said.
13 posted on 03/27/2003 2:57:29 PM PST by knighthawk
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To: Murtyo; monkeyshine; ipaq2000; Lent; veronica; Sabramerican; beowolf; Nachum; BenF; angelo; ...
ping
14 posted on 03/27/2003 4:25:53 PM PST by dennisw
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To: knighthawk
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.”

jDear Lord, knighthawk, words fail me.

15 posted on 03/27/2003 4:57:15 PM PST by xJones (I)
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To: Mark17
Sounds like the peaceful person who killed Anwar Sadat, or the one who killed Robert F. Kennedy, or that other peaceful person who tried to kill the Pope. All from that peace religion.
16 posted on 03/27/2003 5:02:18 PM PST by FITZ
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To: knighthawk; TopQuark; dennisw; veronica
<< I miss Fortuyn. But he still managed to pull enough people to the right side, we even support the war in Iraq, qith or without the UN. Before Fortuyn, such a thing was unthinkable .... a lot of people still believe in what he said. >>

I miss him, too. Quite a Character. Brought a lot of fun, not to mention moral integrity, to European politics. Cheeky bugger!
17 posted on 03/27/2003 5:26:32 PM PST by Brian Allen (I have sworn upon the altar of God eternal hostility against every form of tyranny ....)
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To: Murtyo
wonder when all the gay rights people and the animal rights people and the Muslim rights people and the greens and the pro-abortion people and the pro-pornagraphy Democrats all get together and realize that all their views are diametrically opposed to one another......lol

I can just see a Muslim society welcoming gays openly,,( even if I kind of suspect they welcome them quietly....shhhhh)

18 posted on 03/27/2003 5:29:44 PM PST by cherry
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To: xJones
Did you catch this:

"Van der Graaf went on to become a tough and successful lawyer."

He gave up this career, a wife, young child to kill for the Muslims? He must be nuts.
19 posted on 03/27/2003 5:50:22 PM PST by dennisw
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To: dennisw; knighthawk
I read that, ditto with the crazy.

Knighthawk, what is your report, what's being said in Holland about this guy?

20 posted on 03/27/2003 6:34:42 PM PST by xJones (I)
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