Editing Volkert van der Graaf (section)

=== The trial ===

The trial was held in a high-security court in [[Amsterdam]]-Osdorp over three days: 27 March, 31 March, and 1 April. About 15 supporters of Fortuyn demonstrated outside the building, with banners such as "for less than 20 years we will smash the place up", "better Fortuynist than socialist" and "the leftist church is criminal". The proceedings were followed by about 80 people, including a woman who disturbed the occasion by screaming at Van der Graaf, accusing him of such things as "destroying the whole of the Netherlands". Van der Graaf was counseled by the high-profile German-born attorney, [[Britta Böhler]].

Van der Graaf was charged with the premeditated murder of Fortuyn, two counts of possession of illegal weapons, namely the gun and the explosive mixture at his house, and a charge of threatening the life of Fortuyn's [[chauffeur]] by pointing his gun at him during the chase following the murder.

The prosecutor asked for life imprisonment for the killing, saying that an example must be set for anybody else attempting to frustrate the democratic process through criminal means. He said the crime was serious because of its victim and the consequences, and that to a certain degree it was a "political murder". Van der Graaf had irrevocably damaged the democratic political progress of Fortuyn, and had done it intentionally. For an exceptional crime, he deserved an exceptional punishment.

During the trial, Van der Graaf described his reasons for killing Fortuyn. He claimed he hoped that the leaders of other political parties would criticize Fortuyn, but that it never happened (which was not true as other party leaders had openly criticized and derided Fortuyn in debates). He claimed that Fortuyn had the talent to channel criticism so that it never touched him. Van der Graaf said he had spoken to no one about his plan. He finished his planning just the day before the murder. Perhaps looking for sympathy, he said he was wrestling with regret for the killing, finding the killing of somebody morally reprehensible. On 6 May he had felt justified, saying that he wanted to fight the danger of what Fortuyn represented, not the man. He did not find it easy to talk about feelings. Asked about the danger of accidentally injuring somebody other than Fortuyn in the attack, he said that he had been confident that that would not happen. However, the 3FM [[disc jockey]] [[Ruud de Wild]] said that he barely escaped with his life, as he received a bullet in the bag used for a shield. De Wild also stated that witnessing the shooting had left him suffering from [[PTSD]].

To the argument that Fortuyn would have been chosen through democratic means, Van der Graaf said that that was also the case for [[Adolf Hitler|Hitler]]. He compared the rise of Fortuyn to the rise of Nazism in the 1930s.<ref name =BBC/> In his final argument, he said that he had acted from his conscience, but that did not justify murder. He said it was absolutely not normal to shoot somebody to death.

Van der Graaf said he murdered Fortuyn to defend Dutch Muslims from [[religious persecution|persecution]]. He wanted to stop Fortuyn from targeting "the weak parts of society to score points" and exploiting Muslims as "scapegoats" in an attempt to seek political power.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.volkertvandergraaf.net/Volkert/bekentenis.htm |title=Volkert van der G<!-- Bot generated title --> |access-date=3 August 2006 |archive-date=15 May 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060515024139/http://www.volkertvandergraaf.net/Volkert/bekentenis.htm |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>[http://www.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/europe/03/27/netherlands.fortuyn.trial/ "Fortuyn killer 'acted for Muslims'"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081210081312/http://www.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/europe/03/27/netherlands.fortuyn.trial/ |date=10 December 2008 }}, CNN 27 March 2003</ref><ref>Evans-Pritchard, Ambrose and Joan Clements [https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/netherlands/1425944/Fortuyn-killed-to-protect-Muslims.html "Fortuyn killed 'to protect Muslims'"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180428020432/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/netherlands/1425944/Fortuyn-killed-to-protect-Muslims.html |date=28 April 2018 }}, ''Telegraph'' (28 March 2003)</ref>

Van der Graaf said that he would not have committed the murder, at least not on that evening, if Fortuyn had been accompanied by security guards; this is relevant to accusations that the government should have provided security.{{Citation needed|date=February 2021}} On Tuesday, 15 April 2003, Van der Graaf was convicted and sentenced to 18 years' imprisonment.