UTRECHT, 21/02/03 - Volkert van der G., suspect of the murder of Pim Fortuyn, has agreed to an extended stay in the Pieter Baan Centrum (PBC), said his lawyer B. Bohler yesterday. The justice ministry's behavioral center is investigating the mental capacities of the 33-year-old animal rights activist.

The district court in Amsterdam ruled on 29 January that Van der G.'s stay in the PBC in Utrecht had to be ended on 23 February unless he himself agreed to a longer examination. It has now been agreed that the observation of the man from Harderwijk will continue for another three weeks after this date, according to Bohler.

The PBC's report must be transferred to the examining magistrate by 21 March at the latest. The actual hearings of the proceedings against Van der G. begin on 27 March and will continue on 30 March and 1 April. The suspect has confessed to shooting politician Pim Fortuyn dead on 6 May last year.

The behavioral examination of Van der G. was delayed in January, when he temporarily stopped cooperating in protest against his isolated accommodation and the presence of cameras in his cell. The ministry had put these measures in place to prevent a popular revolt should the suspect commit suicide, but withdrew them after the protest.

If the PBC concludes that Van der G. was of unsound mind at the moment of the murder, this could have consequences for the sentence. The court could then impose forced psychiatric treatment (TBS). This sentence is of indeterminate length ('at Her Majesty's pleasure') and need not always be imposed in combination with a prison sentence.