An environmental campaigner has gone on trial today charged with the murder of Dutch politician Pim Fortuyn.
Mr Volkert van der Graaf has confessed to shooting the right-wing leader last May outside a radio station near Amsterdam.Mr Fortuyn, a former sociology professor, soared to fame unexpectedly with his controversial brand of populism and angered opponents with calls for zero-immigration and by branding Islam "backward".
The party he founded, Pim Fortuyn List (LPF), swept to second place in the 2002 general election on a wave to sympathy to take a place in a short-lived, centre-right coalition brought down by an internal feud. The party was beaten in a fresh election in January.
Mr Van der Graaf (33), an animal rights activist from a small eastern town in the Dutch "Bible belt", is being tried in a high-security Amsterdam courtroom. A verdict is expected next month.
Some people in the public gallery jeered as he spoke for the first time. Suspects are not asked to enter a formal plea at trial in The Netherlands, although judges can ask him whether he wants to stick to his confession.
Mr Van der Graaf could face a life sentence, a maximum of 20 years in The Netherlands, if convicted.
