Killer of Dutch politician Pim Fortuyn gets early release

USPA News - Volkert van der Graaf, the man convicted of the assassination of Dutch right-wing politician Pim Fortuyn more than a decade ago, was released from prison on Friday after he served two-thirds of his sentence, officials said. The controversial release comes just days before the anniversary of the assassination, which shook the country only a week before general elections.

Fortuyn, 54, was shot in the head and chest at close range after finishing an interview at a radio station in Hilversum, southeast of Amsterdam, on May 6, 2002. Van der Graaf was later sentenced to eighteen years in prison but was eligible for release after having served two-thirds of his sentence, sparking controversy and attempts to keep him in prison. The attempts failed and he was released on Friday and moved to an undisclosed location where he will be subject to electronic monitoring and other measures. "Volkert van der G. was provisionally released (v.i.) today," the Public Prosecution Service said in a statement. "During his v.i.-period, a period of six years, Van der G. must, in addition to the standard condition of not committing new offenses, adhere to a number of special conditions." Those conditions include a requirement to regularly report to authorities, a prohibition on contact with a number of relatives and a victim, receiving guidance from a psychologist or psychiatrist, and a prohibition on talking with the media. He is also not allowed to enter the municipalities of Hilversum, The Hague, Rotterdam, and Tilburg to avoid running into victims or political supporters. Fortuyn, a controversial figure who had once been written off by Dutch politicians and media alike, was expected to make big gains in the May 2002 general election as leader of Pim Fortuyn List (LPF). "This is a full country. I think 16 million Dutchmen are about enough," he once said. His views were controversial but Fortuyn won wide support in the country for voicing ordinary people`s concerns that were swept under the carpet by mainstream politicians. But Van der Graaf, a passionate animal rights activist who once said he objected to fishing because it is cruel to worms and fish, saw Fortuyn`s sudden and quick rise to power as a threat to society`s weakest groups. He told investigators that he saw "no other option to stop that threat," though he later expressed remorse while in court. Pim Fortuyn List won 17 percent of the vote in general elections after Fortuyn`s murder, making it the second-largest party in the Netherlands with 26 seats in parliament. But the LPF was doomed to fail as every candidate - none of them with the stature of Fortuyn - had been hand-picked by the politician himself to ensure complete agreement with his policies, and the party`s lack of leadership and experience ultimately led to the cabinet`s resignation just months later. The Netherlands was left angry and divided in the wake of Fortuyn`s murder, which marked the country`s first peacetime assassination of a politician since the killings of Johan and Cornelis de Witt in August 1672, when the country was still known as the Dutch Republic. After the assassination in 2002, the Netherlands was rocked by the assassination of controversial film director Theo van Gogh in November 2004.