Editing Pim Fortuyn (section)

== Death ==
[[File:Palazzo di Pietro Rotterdam.jpg|thumb|right|220px|Fortuyn's house in [[Rotterdam]] where he lived from 1998 until his death]]
{{main|Assassination of Pim Fortuyn}}
On 6 May 2002, at age 54, Fortuyn was [[Assassination of Pim Fortuyn|assassinated]] by gunshot in [[Hilversum]], [[North Holland]], by [[Volkert van der Graaf]]. The attack took place in a car park outside a radio studio where Fortuyn had just given an interview. This was nine days before the [[2002 Dutch general election|general election]], in which he was running. The attacker was pursued by [[Hans Smolders]], Fortuyn's driver, and was arrested by the police shortly afterward, still in possession of a handgun.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/dutch-farright-leader-shot-dead-650464.html|title=Dutch far-right leader shot dead|work=The Independent|date=7 May 2002|access-date=13 June 2010|location=London|first=Isobel|last=Conway|archive-date=7 May 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100507004105/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/dutch-farright-leader-shot-dead-650464.html|url-status=dead}}</ref> Months later, Van der Graaf confessed in court to the first notable political assassination in the Netherlands since 1672 (excluding [[World War II]]).<ref>{{cite book|last=van Sas|first=N.C.F.|year=2005|title=De metamorfose van Nederland:van oude orde naar moderniteit 1750–1900|page=373|publisher=Amsterdam University Press |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0Sy7AdDUBesC&pg=PA373|isbn=90-5356-840-9|access-date=15 October 2016|archive-date=18 August 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200818163122/https://books.google.com/books?id=0Sy7AdDUBesC&pg=PA373|url-status=live}}</ref> On 15 April 2003, he was convicted of assassinating Fortuyn and sentenced to 18 years in prison.<ref name="sentencing">{{cite news|last1=Osborn|first1=Andrew|title='Light' sentence enrages Fortuyn's followers|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2003/apr/16/andrewosborn|access-date=6 May 2016|work=[[The Guardian]]|date=16 April 2003|archive-date=4 June 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160604014042/http://www.theguardian.com/world/2003/apr/16/andrewosborn|url-status=live}}</ref> He was released on parole in May 2014 after serving two-thirds of his sentence, the standard procedure under the Dutch penal system.<ref name="parole">{{cite news|title=Pim Fortuyn: Politician's Killer Is Freed Early|url=http://news.sky.com/story/1253915/pim-fortuyn-politicians-killer-is-freed-early|access-date=6 May 2016|publisher=[[Sky News]]|date=2 May 2014|archive-date=11 June 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160611001259/http://news.sky.com/story/1253915/pim-fortuyn-politicians-killer-is-freed-early|url-status=live}}</ref>

The assassination shocked many residents of the Netherlands and highlighted the cultural clashes within the country. Various conspiracy theories arose after Pim Fortuyn's murder and deeply affected Dutch politics and society.<ref>* Jelle van Buuren: ''Holland's Own Kennedy Affair. Conspiracy Theories on the Murder of Pim Fortuyn''. = ''[[Historical Social Research]]'', Vol. 38, 1 (2013), pp. 257–85.</ref> Politicians from all parties suspended campaigning. After consultation with LPF, the government decided not to postpone the elections. As Dutch law did not permit modifying the ballots, Fortuyn became a posthumous candidate. The [[Pim Fortuyn List|LPF]] made an unprecedented debut in the [[House of Representatives (Netherlands)|House of Representatives]] by winning 26 seats (17% of the 150 seats in the house). The LPF joined a cabinet with the [[Christian Democratic Appeal]] and the [[People's Party for Freedom and Democracy]], but conflicts in the rudderless LPF quickly collapsed the cabinet, forcing new elections. By the following year, the party had lost support, winning only eight seats in the [[2003 Dutch general election|2003 elections]]. It won no seats in the [[2006 Dutch general election|2006 elections]], by which time the [[Party for Freedom]], led by [[Geert Wilders]], had emerged as a successor.

During the last months of his life, Fortuyn had become closer to the Catholic Church. To the surprise of many commentators and Dutch TV hosts, Fortuyn insisted on Fr. Louis Berger, a [[curate|parish priest]] from [[The Hague]], accompanying him in some of his last TV appearances. According to ''[[The New York Times]]'', Berger had become his "friend and [[sacrament of penance|confessor]]" during the last weeks of his life.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2002/05/07/world/rightist-candidate-in-netherlands-is-slain-and-the-nation-is-stunned.html|title=Rightist politician is slain and the Nation is stunned|last=Simons|first=Marlise|work=[[The New York Times]]|date=7 May 2002|access-date=19 February 2017|archive-date=28 February 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170228101612/http://www.nytimes.com/2002/05/07/world/rightist-candidate-in-netherlands-is-slain-and-the-nation-is-stunned.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

=== Burial ===
Fortuyn was initially buried in [[Driehuis]] in the Netherlands. He was re-interred on 20 July 2002, at [[San Giorgio della Richinvelda]], in the [[province of Pordenone]] in Italy, where he had owned a house.