Assassin of right-wing Dutch politician Pim Fortuyn escapes new prison sentence

Assassin of right-wing Dutch politician Pim Fortuyn escapes new prison sentence:

A judge in the Netherlands today decided Volkert van der Graaf, who killed right-wing Dutch politician Pim Fortuyn in 2002 in order “to protect Muslims“, does not have to go back to jail, despite allegedly having violated the conditions of his parole. According to the court, the violations were not grave enough.

The justice ministry demanded the left-wing activist would be imprisoned for a year for not reporting to his parole officer every three weeks as he was supposed to. Initially, Van der Graaf had to contact the organisation supervising his parole on a weekly basis, but he successfully fought this measure in court 3 years ago. The restraining order and electronic tagging was too harsh a restriction, the judges ordered, calling the conditions “disproportional.” 

The verdict today stated Van der Graaf had complied with the reporting requirements, even though it was in a somewhat fatiguing manner. According to the understanding judges, this “may have been caused by his character,”Algemeen Dagblad reports. Dutch courts, critics have often alleged, are dominated by left-leaning liberals who in general are very lenient towards kindred spirits, even if they are involved in terrorism.

Van der Graaf was released from jail in May 2014, after serving two-thirds of his 18-year sentence. Another breach of his parole was his talking to the press in September 2015, but somehow this violation again didn’t land him back in jail.

Movie producer Theo van Gogh, who was killed by an Islamic extremist, once said of Fortuyn he was the first real oppositional politician in the national political system, fiercely opposing big government, unrestricted immigration, and the unbridled expansion of Islamic fundamentalist communities in the Netherlands. Polls indicated that ‘Professor Pim’, as many of his fans called him lovingly, could have won the parliamentary elections had he not been killed.

Despite this, the judges at the murder trial against Van der Graaf in 2003 decided that life in jail was too inhumane a sentence. They decided that the assassination “did not amount to such a serious infraction of the democratic process,” even though the “rule of law was shaken heavily” and Van der Graaf did not show any remorse.

H/t reader kevin a.

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