The man who murdered flamboyant far-right Dutch politician Pim Fortuyn was freed on Friday after serving two-thirds of an 18-year sentence, the justice ministry said.
Volkert van der Graaf, 44, was jailed for the 2002 cold-blooded shooting of the outspoken and openly gay Fortuyn, an act that shattered the liberal Netherlands' image of itself as a unified and secure society.
"I can confirm that Volkert van der Graaf has been freed on conditional release," justice ministry spokesman Jochgem van Opstal told AFP, declining to provide further details.
A Dutch justice advisory board said last year that Van der Graaf should be granted a "controlled" early release, as the best way to reintegrate and prepare him for an eventual return to society.
The release dominated Dutch newspapers on Friday, with much speculation about what he might now look like and what he will now do.
Van der Graaf was to be handed over to his family, including his partner and their 12-year-old daughter, Dutch media said.
The animal rights activist will not be given a new identity despite fears his whereabouts may be revealed.
He will be "protected", Dutch media reported, but the justice ministry would not say if that meant he would have a bodyguard.
Van der Graaf will have to report to authorities once a week and wear an electronic ankle tag. He will not be allowed to go to Rotterdam, the city where Fortuyn was a politician, or to Hilversum, where he was killed.
Officials warned last year that Van der Graaf's early release could reopen old wounds, given the widespread public anger that followed Fortuyn's assassination in the car park of a television station on May 6, 2002.
Van der Graaf shot the hugely popular Fortuyn, 54, in the head days before elections in which the Pim Fortuyn List (LPF) party was expected to make major gains on the back of an anti-immigration ticket.
He said he killed Fortuyn because he was worried about the way he stigmatised vulnerable groups, including Muslim immigrants and asylum seekers.
Widely seen as the forerunner of today's Freedom Party (PVV), led by controversial rightwing politician Geert Wilders, Fortuyn labelled Islam a "backward culture" and called for Dutch borders to be closed to immigration.
The man who murdered flamboyant far-right Dutch politician Pim Fortuyn was freed on Friday after serving two-thirds of an 18-year sentence, the justice ministry said.
Volkert van der Graaf, 44, was jailed for the 2002 cold-blooded shooting of the outspoken and openly gay Fortuyn, an act that shattered the liberal Netherlands’ image of itself as a unified and secure society.
“I can confirm that Volkert van der Graaf has been freed on conditional release,” justice ministry spokesman Jochgem van Opstal told AFP, declining to provide further details.
A Dutch justice advisory board said last year that Van der Graaf should be granted a “controlled” early release, as the best way to reintegrate and prepare him for an eventual return to society.
The release dominated Dutch newspapers on Friday, with much speculation about what he might now look like and what he will now do.
Van der Graaf was to be handed over to his family, including his partner and their 12-year-old daughter, Dutch media said.
The animal rights activist will not be given a new identity despite fears his whereabouts may be revealed.
He will be “protected”, Dutch media reported, but the justice ministry would not say if that meant he would have a bodyguard.
Van der Graaf will have to report to authorities once a week and wear an electronic ankle tag. He will not be allowed to go to Rotterdam, the city where Fortuyn was a politician, or to Hilversum, where he was killed.
Officials warned last year that Van der Graaf’s early release could reopen old wounds, given the widespread public anger that followed Fortuyn’s assassination in the car park of a television station on May 6, 2002.
Van der Graaf shot the hugely popular Fortuyn, 54, in the head days before elections in which the Pim Fortuyn List (LPF) party was expected to make major gains on the back of an anti-immigration ticket.
He said he killed Fortuyn because he was worried about the way he stigmatised vulnerable groups, including Muslim immigrants and asylum seekers.
Widely seen as the forerunner of today’s Freedom Party (PVV), led by controversial rightwing politician Geert Wilders, Fortuyn labelled Islam a “backward culture” and called for Dutch borders to be closed to immigration.
