THE HAGUE, The Netherlands (PA) – Prosecutors on Thursday asked a Dutch court to drop the case of a 68-year-old father accused of isolating and abusing his own children, who have been kept isolated from the outside world for years. -a firm remote control.
The case attracted global attention in 2019, when police discovered the father with six of his children in a hidden room on a farm in eastern Holland, after a son sounded the alarm.
At a preliminary hearing In January last year, prosecutors portrayed my father as a deeply religious man who saw his family as “chosen by God” and did everything in his power – including beatings and other punishments – to prevent them. to give in to what he considered malignant external influences.
Prosecutors say the man, identified only as Gerrit Jan van D. under Dutch privacy rules, has been largely incapacitated by a 2016 stroke. Continuing the case would violate his right to a fair trial, as he is unable to to defend themselves, prosecutors said.
While urging judges to stop the case, prosecutors said their efforts and those of the police had a useful purpose in freeing the family.
“I took the younger children out of what was then an insecure, bizarre situation. And during the investigation, we offered them something they did not have until now: a real existence in our society by registering them in the personal register, but more importantly: freedom of choice. ”
The six children who were kept on the farm are now all young adults. Three older brothers had left the family’s isolated life earlier. Their mother died in 2004.
Prosecutors acknowledged that their decision would be difficult for the children who escaped isolation and told investigators “about the terrible things they endured.”
Prosecutors said that while the trial against the father is over, all the children are now free to choose their own future, even if it means returning to solitary confinement with their sick father.
“In the last 18 months, the children have known our society, been able to participate in it and received spiritual and medical care,” they said. “If, now, when they have managed to taste the alternative, they still choose to want to live in isolation with their father again, to exercise their faith … this is their choice.”