Van Dee is being tried physically and mentally disabled, the Public Prosecution Service (OM) concluded. Continuing to go to trial would violate their right to a fair trial. The government attorney said, “Van D.” Is stuck in his own mind. There is no possibility of any significant improvement. OM has asked the court to declare OM inadmissible. The court will decide on that request on 4 March. If the court honors the request, Van D will be released.

OM accused Van de, among other things, of detaining six of his children against his will on a remote farm near the village of Rournold in Drenthe. The matter came to light in October 2019 and became world news.

The family finds out after the children ask for help in a cafe. The father was arrested shortly afterwards. He is suspected of being deprived of the freedom of all nine children and sexually abused by two elders. All children are now aged.

• Why did Gerrit Jan van de want to disappear with his family?

At the time, it was immediately clear that van de was seriously limited. The questioning of the man was never possible. Van D’s lawyer has asked for an end to the prosecution last year. An extensive study by behavioral experts at the Peter Bain Center showed that it is difficult to communicate with Van Dee and impossible to determine what he does and does not understand. Accused by prosecutors and Van Dee’s attorneys, the court visited Van Dee in January, to see his situation with his own eyes.

Public prosecution insisted at a court hearing in Essen that it was a difficult blow to stop prosecution for Van Dee’s eldest children. It is important to him that he is prosecuted for what his father did to him. .

Van Dee’s co-suspect is his good friend Joseph B. He was released in October in a pending trial.