Dutch prosecutors are accusing an animal rights activist with the murder on Monday of Pim Fortuyn, a right-wing candidate for prime minister. The suspect, Volkert van der Graaf, opposed factory farming and fur farms and worked for the little-known group Environment-Offensive, which uses legal tactics to advances its cause (rather than the in-your-face, direct-action methods of groups like the Animal Liberation Front). Roger Vleugels, a lawyer for the group, described van der Graaf as normally a “calm, restrained” individual who didn’t engage in politics. In his campaign to head the government, Fortuyn made clear that he didn’t think much of green issues. He told some environmentalists last year: “Environmental policy in the Netherlands has no more substance. And I’m sick to death of your environmental movement.” The news that Fortuyn may have been murdered by an environmentalist has led to a wave of email and telephone threats against mainstream green groups in the country.
