Published January 08, 2015
The animal rights activist who assassinated Dutch politician Pim Fortuyn in 2002 is due to be released Friday, after serving 12 years of an 18-year sentence.
Release after serving two-thirds of a sentence is the norm in the Netherlands.
Volkert van der Graaf killed Fortuyn days before national elections in which Fortuyn was set to win big on an anti-immigration platform that reversed the then-progressive Dutch political landscape.
Most of Fortuyn's ideas have since become reality.
Van der Graaf's sentence has been widely criticized as too light. Judges had to choose between a maximum sentence of 20 years for a first-time offender motivated by misguided principles, or life in prison without parole.
Justice Ministry spokesman Jochgem van Opstal said Van der Graaf's release has conditions attached.
https://www.foxnews.com/world/killer-of-dutch-politician-pim-fortuyn-to-be-freed-after-serving-12-years-of-18-year-sentence