Fortuyn Murder Case Opens

Steijn Franken, the lawyer defending the 33-year-old environmental activist Volkert van der Graaf, is not going to have an easy time of it.

His client was arrested minutes after the May 6 murder of Pim Fortuyn (photo) carrying a loaded gun speckled with the politician’s blood. Van der Graaf’s clothes also carried traces of Fortuyn’s DNA and latex gloves he was wearing showed particle traces from a recently fired gun.

It was the most detailed presentation of evidence by public prosecutors since the stunning May 6 murder of the popular and controversial Dutch politican.

Security at the court room was tight. Police with sniffer dogs patrolled the Amsterdam district court building as television cameras beamed the proceedings live to the nation which has been gripped by the event.

Defender Franken said he was deeply concerned about the blinding media spotlight shining on the case. He complained that his client is being treated by the police and the media as if he were already convicted.

“Nobody seems to doubt anymore than Volkert committed the murder of Pim Fortuyn,” he said. “Volkert, like anyone else, is not guilty until proven guilty.”

Van der Graaf has refused to give a statement to investigators. He has been on a hunger strike for four weeks, living on water and fruit juice in protest of the 24-hour camera surveillance in his cell. He did not appear in the courtroom on Friday.

Further Investigations

The three-judge tribunal granted prosecutor Koos Plooy’s request for an extension of van der Graaf’s custody without bail for up to 90 days so that further investigations can be carried out. No trial date has been set.

Investigating officials are now focusing on what the defendant did in the three days before the shooting.

A search of van der Graaf’s home computer already revealed he had spent hours on the Internet in the weeks before the shooting gathering information about Fortuyn and his movements.

Investigators found a map of the Media Park in Hilversum where Fortuyn was shot along with a map of the politician’s home in Rotterdam and a list of other members of Fortuyn’s party in the suspect's car.

The evidence, prosecutor Plooy said, “leads to the conclusion that it was the suspect himself who shot Fortuyn from close range, and no one else.”

Police also found chemicals, laboratory equipment and a timer in van der Graaf’s home in the residential area of Harderwijk, 35 miles east of Amsterdam. Explosives experts determined the material could be used to made an explosive or firebomb.

A Nation Shocked

The Fortuyn murder deeply shocked this nation of nearly 16 million which hadn’t seen the slaying of a political figure in 400 years. The shooting came just nine days before national elections in which Fortuyn’s party, even without its charismatic leader, came in second place.

Fortuyn courted controversy during his political career by calling for a halt to immigration, branding Islam a “backward” religion and saying he was destined to be the Netherlands’ first openly gay prime minister.

Although many Dutch people disagreed with his views, the nation experienced an unprecendented public outpouring of grief following his murder when 15,000 mourners filed past his home in Rotterdam to pay their respects (photo).