The Zeeland-West-Brabant police will search the archives again for the past of the Order of Transformants, a movement that was founded at the beginning of this century and which was then housed in Hoeven in Brabant.
The movement still has a home there, but its headquarters are now in Klooster Graefenthal in Asperden, Germany, just across the border from Nijmegen.
The 58-year-old leader of the order, dubbed a cult leader by German police, was arrested last month on suspicion of child sexual abuse, assault, rape and deprivation of liberty. The sexual abuse of children and violence is said to have taken place between 2006 and 2008 in the residential community in Hoeven. Reports were made at the time, but it never led to an arrest or a criminal case.
The police are now checking the archives again, also to help German colleagues, says a spokesman. Talks are also taking place with Dutch former police officers. “Perhaps we now look at certain matters differently than then. But we do not want to create any expectations,” emphasizes the police spokesman.
The 58-year-old Dutchman is still in prison in Germany. The order says all charges against him come from one person. That would be the ex-lover of a 25-year-old woman who belongs to the order. This woman was taken into the monastery in a police raid because she was to be held against her will.
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