AMSTERDAM, The Netherlands, May 8, 2002 (ENS) - Pim Fortuyn, 54, a candidate for the Dutch Parliament, was shot to death here on Monday shortly after giving a radio interview. Police have charged a man known to be an animal rights activist with his murder.

Moments after the shooting, police arrested a man in the radio station parking lot. Charges of murder and illegal possession of weapons were filed today against Volkert van der Graaf, 32, an activist who was thought to have been upset by Fortuyn's statements supporting fur farming.

Pim Fortuyn (Photos courtesy Pim Fortuyn in Memorium)

Prime Minister Wim Kok expressed his shock over this "deeply tragic" event. In a statement to the country on national television, he said the slaying "has broken my heart."

In Parliament Tuesday, the Prime Minister said, "The Dutch people were devastated and overwhelmed by the assassination of Mr. Fortuyn. His violent death has shaken us all."

Following a cabinet meeting Tuesday, Prime Minister Kok announced that the parliamentary elections scheduled for May 15 will go ahead as planned. Kok said discussions with cabinet members, leaders of the political parties and members of Fortuyn's party were "intense" and gave him sufficient reasons to adhere to the date originally set.

If the election had been held before his death on Monday, the Pim Fortuyn Slate would have received between 19 and 26 seats out of 150 seats in the Dutch Second Chamber, or Lower House.

Pim Fortuyn was known as a keen debater.

The man who walked up to Fortuyn on a busy parking lot at the state owned media park outside Radio 3 FM studios gunned him down at close range. Fortuyn was shot five times, twice in the back.

Police identified the accused only as Volkert van der G, a Dutchman from Harderwijk, a small religious community in the central part of the Netherlands.

Van de Graaf is a man in his early thirties, married and the father of a three month old baby. At his home, on what is described as a quiet street, police found ammunition matching the gun used to kill Fortuyn.

The suspect has been referred to by colleagues at the Milieu Offensief (United Environmental Offensive) where he worked, as an animal rights activist. He was opposed to the intensive farming industry and against the raising of animals for fur.

Representatives of the small animal rights group were confounded by the news that their associate had been arrested for Fortuyn's murder. Members of the organization told police that Volkert was good in handling environmental court cases for the group. One associate at the organization, a lawyer, says he cannot imagine van de Graaf was familiar with guns.

Van de Graaf's wife and friends were shocked. His associates said he was not interested in politics and never referred to Pim Fortuyn. The only link between him and the politician is Fortuyn's statement that if in government he would legalize mink farming," they said.

Attorney Britta Boehler will represent the defendant. (Photo courtesy Swedish Television)

Police said the van de Graaf was calm and unemotional after his deed. He refused to make a statement, and as a result, his precise motives are still a mystery. There is no evidence that other people were involved in the attack.

In an interview posted on the Milieu Offensief last year van de Graaf stated, “I'm working for Milieu Offensief (Environment Offensive) that is involved in the environment as well as animal welfare."

"We work together toward the same result: stopping the expansion of factory farming. Through legal procedures we fight permits for factory farms and fur farms, using the law as our tool,” van der Graaf said.

“What happens to animals in factory farming is not right," he said in the interview. "Many animal protectors act from the assumption that ‘nature is good,’ but every dark side of humans can also be found in nature. Protecting animals is civilizing people, as they say."

In Rotterdam, where Fortuyn's party took more than 35 percent of the vote in recent local elections, more than 15,000 people participated in a memorial march, and many others signed expressions of condolences at City Hall. A sea of flowers has been laid at the Media Park in Hilversum where Fortuyn was shot, and at his home and at Rotterdam City Hall.

Security has been stepped up outside most buildings across The Netherlands. The residences of political party leaders and some cabinet members are now under guard, a new phenomenon in this easy going country where the Prime Minister is known to ride his bicycle to work.