When Dutch political candidate Pim Fortuyn was shot and killed by an animal rights activist, an official funeral was held in the Netherlands even though ultimately Fortuyn’s body would be interred in an Italian cemetary.
So they’re finally getting around to digging up his coffin to ship it to Italy, which isn’t that odd, but what is bizarre is that the exhumation is going to be televised live on Dutch national television.
The decision to broadcast the exhumation has apparently caused quite a bit of controversy. The Guardian had an amusing quote from Willem Breedveld, who it identifie as a “senior media commentator,
It will be the first time someone in the Netherlands has been dug up on TV. We normally don’t do it out of respect for the dead. But (his supporters) want to show a sort of resurrection of Pim Fortuyn just like the resurrection of the lord, and that’s blasphemy.
Fortuyn’s reburial in Italy will also be televised live. Weird.