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Posted on 04/15/2003 4:27:02 AM PDT by TigerLikesRooster
Fortuyn Assassin Sentenced to 18 Years
By TOBY STERLING, Associated Press Writer
AMSTERDAM, Netherlands - The man who confessed to killing Dutch politician Pim Fortuyn was sentenced to 18 years in prison Tuesday for the first political assassination in the Netherlands since World War II.
Angry Fortuyn supporters — who had wanted a life sentence — booed the decision and stormed out of the courtroom. One woman broke down in sobs after the sentence was read out.
"All considered, a sentence of life imprisonment would not be appropriate in this case," said Presiding Judge Frans Bauduin. "Therefore we are giving a fixed term of imprisonment."
The judges said they had considered as an aggravating circumstances that the murder was premeditated and carried out "at close range and with deadly precision." They also took into account that the slaying of the brash, gay academic with anti-immigration views had damaged Dutch democracy.
However, they said the chance of repetition was small and that the defendant deserved a chance to be rehabilitated.
Lead prosecutor Koos Plooy had said a life sentence would be justified because it would deter future political killings.
Volkert van der Graaf, 33, testified that he shot Fortuyn outside a radio station on May 6, 2002, to stop him from gaining power and carrying out his anti-immigration agenda.
The killing, just nine days before elections in which Fortuyn was contending for prime minister, shocked the Dutch and left the country in political turmoil.
Van der Graaf will probably actually serve around two thirds of the 18-year sentence and could be released by 2014. There is no death penalty in the Netherlands.
As Van der Graaf was driven from the courthouse, Fortuyn supporters pelted the car with trash, shouted profanities at the judges and called for a life sentence.
Simon Fortuyn, Pim Fortuyn's brother, told reporters he "was not so filled with rancor that I have to see him behind bars for the rest of his life."
However, he said he was "deeply hurt" that the judges had accepted Van der Graaf's motive that "Pim was a danger to society." He said he hoped prosecutors would appeal the verdict.
Van der Graaf's lawyers had argued that a life sentence would be harsh in his case, since it is usually reserved for serial killers who show no remorse.
During a reading of the verdict that lasted around an hour, judge Bauduin sided with the defense on that point, stressing the infrequency of life sentences in the Netherlands. Since 1945, there have been only 21 life sentences, seven of them in 2002-2003.
In a final statement to the panel of three regional court judges, Van der Graaf had said he would not repeat his act and that he regretted "the grief I have caused so many."
Fortuyn scandalized Dutch politics by calling Islam a "backward religion," blaming rising crime on the Moroccan and Turkish minorities and demanding a moratorium on new immigration.
Fortuyn's leaderless party went on to make huge gains in the 2002 elections and joined a conservative governing coalition. But infighting among Fortuyn's heirs quickly led to the collapse of the government and new elections in January.
While stating his regret, Van der Graaf testified that he believed he had prevented suffering by stopping Fortuyn's rise to power, which he compared to that of Adolf Hitler.
Prosecutor Plooy questioned Van der Graaf's sincerity, saying he was a calculating killer who lied about his motives and only regretted getting caught.
Van der Graaf attempted to escape on foot after the shooting but was chased and arrested minutes later with the murder weapon in his pocket, gunpowder on his hands, and Fortuyn's DNA on his pants.
Plooy said Van der Graaf's true motive was fear that Fortuyn would carry through on a campaign promise to lift a ban on the breeding of animals for fur.
Before the assassination, Van der Graaf worked up to 80 hours a week litigating against commercial animal farming and was described by other activists as a "fanatic."
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All considered, if someone ever bumps off the judge, 18 days would seem appropriate for his killer.
- and Dutch jails are basically hotels with a fence. Imagine if Sirhan Sirhan and James Earl Ray both did 11 years of tennis-camp prison before going on to book tours and sunny retirement somewhere. (It should surprise no one that Dutch cities are becoming criminal free-for-all zones.)
Good point!
(It should surprise no one that Dutch cities are becoming criminal free-for-all zones.)
Absolutely ignorant remark.
Whoopedie-whoop.
I have spent more than 25 years of my middle-aged life living in the US. That's enough to know better than to extrapolate (suburban) fear of crime from urban locales to a nonsensecial characterization of American cities as "crime-ridden" -- even if Compton, Cabrini Green, or Southeast D.C. have their problems.
As for personal experiences as a victim of crime while living in a not-small Dutch city, I have but one: my wife's bicycle was vandalized (reflectors broken) while parked in the dunes at the beach. Oh, the horror!
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