Assassination of Pim Fortuyn
Pim Fortuyn, a Dutch politician, was assassinated by Volkert van der Graaf in Hilversum, North Holland on 6 May 2002, nine days before the general election of 2002, in which he was leading the Pim Fortuyn List (LPF).
| Assassination of Pim Fortuyn | |
|---|---|
The car park where Fortuyn was assassinated (directly behind the red car) | |
| Location | Hilversum, Netherlands |
| Date | 6 May 2002 18:06 (CEST) |
| Target | Pim Fortuyn |
Attack type | Assassination |
| Weapons | Star M-43 Firestar (9×19mm) |
| Deaths | 1 (Fortuyn) |
| Perpetrator | Volkert van der Graaf |
On a few occasions, Fortuyn had expressed his fear of being murdered: after being pied at the official release of his book De puinhopen van acht jaar Paars, as well as, most notably, on the talk show Jensen! on 22 March 2002. In court at his trial, Van der Graaf, an environmental and animal rights activist, said he murdered Fortuyn to stop him from exploiting Muslims as "scapegoats" and targeting "the weak members of society" in seeking political power. Van der Graaf was sentenced to eighteen years in prison. The sentence was upheld after he appealed. He was released on parole in 2014 after completing two-thirds of his sentence and has since lived in Apeldoorn, Gelderland.