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The_Info_Web/20 - ORGANIZATIONS/PRIVATE/Morkhoven Workgroup.md

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tags category summary start location
Organization
NGO
Belgium
Netherlands
1990s
Apollo_Network
Manuel_Schadwald_Case
Private Organization The Morkhoven Workgroup was an NGO that played a central role in exposing the international child pornography network operated through the Apollo Bulletin Board Service from Zandvoort, Netherlands. 1988 Morkhoven, Belgium

The Morkhoven Workgroup was an NGO that played a central role in exposing the international child pornography network operated through the Apollo Bulletin Board Service from Zandvoort, Netherlands. Private investigator Marcel Vervloesem investigated the disappearance of Manuel Schadwald for the Morkhoven Workgroup, tracing connections from Lothar Glandorf to Gerrit-Jan Ulrich and the Apollo BBS in June 1998. When Ulrich handed Vervloesem encoded disks containing evidence of the network, Vervloesem passed them to his colleague Gina Pardaens-Bernaer within the Morkhoven Workgroup, who made copies before they were given to police.1

Pardaens-Bernaer identified a perpetrator linked to the Marc Dutroux network in snuff film materials from the Apollo Disks before her death in November 1998. Members of the Morkhoven Workgroup also believed they had identified Katrien de Cuyper in pornographic photos found on the Apollo Disks. In February 2001, the Morkhoven Workgroup tracked down a transvestite named Robert Jan Warmerdam in Amsterdam, who claimed to have known both Robbie Van Der Plancken and Marc Dutroux, leading to further revelations about the connections between Dutch and Belgian trafficking networks. Vervloesem was later convicted by an Antwerp court in 2008 for publication of child pornography and sexual abuse of three minors, which allowed facts concerning the Apollo investigation to be dismissed ad hominem.1

Zandvoort material

On July 18, 1998 La Repubblica reported that the group held thousands of pornographic documents found in the Dutch house of Gerrit Ulrich, the man killed the previous month in Pisa. Its spokesman said the Belgian and Dutch files showed the same names and linked the network to branches in the Philippines and Eastern European countries.2 The 2022 parliamentary commission wrote that the group had handed 90,000 images to Interpol, and that the NOVA current-affairs programme had received material through the group; it also noted media reports of the founder's 2008 conviction (four years, Antwerp appeal court) and 2013 acquittal on appeal in a nephew case.3 Hulse wrote that the group was set up in 1990.4

Letters to the Dutch Parliament

The Eerste Kamer's lists of incoming documents record four letters from the Werkgroep Morkhoven:

  • A letter from the group's chairman on a child pornography network in Zandvoort, listed as of interest to members of the Justice and Development Cooperation committees (sitting of September 22, 1998).5
  • A letter on the disappearance of children, sexual exploitation and torture of children, listed as of interest to members of the Foreign Affairs, European and Defence committees (sitting of April 20, 1999).6
  • A letter on a child trial, disappearance, abduction and youth prostitution, listed for the Justice, European and Interior committees (sitting of September 24, 1996).7
  • A letter asking for a thorough investigation of the perpetrators in the Temse, Hulst, Utrecht and Madeira video tapes, listed for the Foreign Affairs committee (sitting of October 1, 1996).8

Footnotes

  1. Dovey, S. (2023). Eye of the Chickenhawk. United States: Thehotstar. ↩︎

  2. "Pedofilia, nuovo caso in Belgio 340 bambini nei video hard," La Repubblica, July 18, 1998, p. 14, https://ricerca.repubblica.it/repubblica/archivio/repubblica/1998/07/18/pedofilia-nuovo-caso-in-belgio-340-bambini.html ↩︎

  3. Tijdelijke Onderzoekscommissie Georganiseerd Sadistisch Misbruik van Minderjarigen (Commissie Hendriks), "Rechtszaken en aangiftes van georganiseerd sadistisch misbruik bij minderjarigen," December 21, 2022, Bijlage bij Kamerstuk 31015 nr. 265, p. 11 and notes 18 to 19, https://zoek.officielebekendmakingen.nl/blg-1067911.pdf ↩︎

  4. Tim Hulse, "No kind of hero," The Independent, September 13, 1998. ↩︎

  5. Eerste Kamer der Staten-Generaal, Handelingen 1998-1999, Lijst van ingekomen stukken, dinsdag 22 september 1998, griffienr. 118319.13, https://zoek.officielebekendmakingen.nl/h-ek-19981999-2-4.html ↩︎

  6. Eerste Kamer der Staten-Generaal, Handelingen 1998-1999, Lijst van ingekomen stukken, dinsdag 20 april 1999, https://zoek.officielebekendmakingen.nl/h-ek-19981999-1258-1259.html ↩︎

  7. Eerste Kamer der Staten-Generaal, Handelingen 1996-1997, Lijst van ingekomen stukken, dinsdag 24 september 1996, https://zoek.officielebekendmakingen.nl/h-ek-19961997-58-60.html ↩︎

  8. Eerste Kamer der Staten-Generaal, Handelingen 1996-1997, Lijst van ingekomen stukken, dinsdag 1 oktober 1996, https://zoek.officielebekendmakingen.nl/h-ek-19961997-77-78.html ↩︎