Justice minister admits mistakes around Fortuyn killer photo

Justice minister Ard van der Steur on Tuesday admitted mistakes were made in the handling of last year’s controversial photograph of Pim Fortuyn’s killer.

The minister told a press conference he regretted the way communication about the photo was handled and admitted ‘misjudgements’ had been made.

He said that taking a photo of Volkert van der Graaf had been fully discussed, including with his lawyers. The possibility of taking the photo was also discussed with then justice minister Ivo Opstelten.

Van der Steur said he did not know when the photo was finally taken.

Communication

He said there were misjudgements by the public prosecution department, the parole board and the counter terrorism agency NCTV. He expects the communication between the various services to improve, and has every confidence this will happen, he told Dutch media.

Last week, television programme Brandpunt Reporter said the photo had been staged, which would break Van der Graaf’s parole agreement.

However, this was taken into consideration by the services involved, Van der Steur said. The idea was that publication of the photo would give some idea of what sort of security arrangements would need to be made for Van der Graaf.