Politician killer's fundamental rights violated in information leak: Ombudsman

The fundamental rights of Volkert van der Graaf, convicted murderer of politician Pim Fortuyn, were violated when personal information about him leaked to the public just before his release in 2014, the National Ombudsman Reinier van Zutphen concluded in a complaint filed by Van der Graaf, the Volkskrant reports.

According to the newspaper, an anonymized version of the report can be found on the Ombudsman's website. "The applicant was imprisoned for a criminal offense which received a lot of media attention" the Ombudsman's report states.

Van der Graaf claimed that an employee of the judicial institutions department DJI or the probation office disclosed information about him that was partially incorrect. It involved a page from his file which states that he is social, suicidal and not a flight risk. According to Van der Graaf, he is not suicidal, so that information is incorrect. He complained to the State Secretary of Security and Justice, who could not solve the problem, so he turned to the Ombudsman.

The National Ombudsman finds Van der Graaf's complaint justified. The government must respect the fundamental rights of citizens, and one of those rights is respect for privacy, Van Zutphen concluded. The Ombudsman finds it likely that the information was leaked by the government and points out that the DJI still uses an outdated computer system that does not register with whom detainee data is shared. "In view of the applicant's identity, the National Ombudsman is of the opinion that the State Secretary/DJI should have been extra careful with the information in question", the report says.