Editing Volkert van der Graaf (section)

=== Appeals ===
The prosecution and the defence both made appeals against the sentence. Prior to the appeal, suggestions in the media that Van der Graaf may have had [[Asperger syndrome]] were rejected by workers at the PBC. They said they had considered and rejected the possibility. A psychiatric report read in court said that Van der Graaf had an [[Obsessive–compulsive personality disorder|obsessive compulsive personality]] but was sane and could be held accountable for his actions.<ref>[http://www.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/europe/04/22/fortuyn.appeal/index.html "Fortuyn's killer to appeal"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170228090049/http://www.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/europe/04/22/fortuyn.appeal/index.html |date=28 February 2017 }}, ''CNN'' (22 April 2003)</ref> The prosecution argued that the court had not taken account of the political nature of the murder, and asked again for life imprisonment. The defence argued that the sentence did not take account of the harsh conditions under which Van der Graaf had been held, nor the damage that had been done by unsubstantiated allegations that had appeared in the media (such as the connection with Van der Werken), and requested a reduction in sentence to 16 years. The appeals court accepted some of the arguments from both parties, but on 18 July 2003 reiterated the sentence to 18 years' imprisonment.