AN ANIMAL rights activist confessed yesterday to murdering the populist Dutch anti- immigration politician Pim Fortuyn last May.

“I could see no other option than to do what I did,” Volkert van der Graaf said at his trial in a high-security Amsterdam court, known as “the bunker”.

He added that he believed Fortuyn, 54, had tried to abuse the strong anti-Muslim feelings prevalent after the September 11 terrorist attacks for his own aggrandisement.

“I got the impression he was looking for a scapegoat he could use to increase his popularity. That was a great concern to me,” Van der Graaf said. “In my eyes, this was a highly vindictive man who used feelings in society to boost his personal stature. The ideas he had about refugees, asylum-seekers, the environment, about animals . . . He was always using or abusing the weak side of society to get ahead.”

As Van der Graaf appeared in the courtroom, the shockwaves that reverberated across the Netherlands at the time of the killing were reflected in the public gallery. Onlookers shouted, “Murderer” and “Life! Life!” at the accused. “He took our Pimmie away from us,” one woman wailed.

Van der Graaf, 33, was arrested only minutes after shooting Fortuyn five times outside a radio station in Hilversum, near Amsterdam, on May 6.

He was caught in possession of the murder weapon, and police scientists detected traces of Fortuyn’s blood on his trousers.

Fortuyn was running for parliament on a manifesto that called for curbs on immigration. A homosexual academic and columnist, he had upset the Dutch tradition of consensus politics with a series of provocative statements, once describing Islam as a “backward religion”.

The murder happened ten days before general elections that resulted in an unprecedented triumph for Fortuyn’s party, which won 26 seats and a place in the coalition Government.

Although the Pim Fortuyn List subsequently fell apart amid internal bickering — and ended up with just eight seats in the parliamentary elections last January — the episode had a profound impact on Dutch society.

The son of a biology teacher from Zeeland, in what is known as the Dutch bible belt, Van der Graaf is an animal rights activist who specialises in litigation against industrial farming methods. He has a baby daughter with his longterm girlfriend.

When police raided the couple’s home after the assassination, they found chemicals that could be used to make explosives and bullets similar to those found at the scene of the crime.

Charged with premeditated murder, Van der Graaf faces a maximum 20-year prison sentence if convicted. He has also been charged with firearms offences and with threatening Fortuyn’s chauffeur, who chased him through the streets of Hilversum after the killing.

There are no jury trials in the Netherlands. The three judges will have to decide whether Van der Graaf can be held accountable for his actions. They are due to hear a psychiatric report on him on Monday.

The trial continues.

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