NetherlandsConfirmed
Dutch court convicts man of child abuse after years-long dispute over Jehovah's Witness elders' confidentiality
The Overijssel District Court on 5 November 2026 sentenced a 51-year-old man, who denies the charges, to 18 months in prison for abusing two boys. The case was delayed for years by a dispute over 2018 police searches of the Dutch headquarters of Jehovah's Witnesses. The court held that almost all the remaining contested material was not covered by elders' privilege, excluded tapped calls between one witness and two other people that were, and cut the sentence by six months for delay.