Two asylum seekers will appear in court in Almere in February charged with sexual assault, the NRC says on Thursday.

The two, aged 18 and 20, live in the city’s refugee centre and were arrested in connection with the offences last September, the paper says.

While the public prosecution department has confirmed the case will be heard on February 9, they have refused to confirm the identity of the suspects, the NRC says. ‘It is not relevant,’ a police spokesman is quoted as saying.

Court

One man is a suspect for one attack, the other for two. The paper says this is thought to be the first time asylum seekers in the Netherlands have been charged with sex crimes since the sharp rise in refugee numbers last summer.

Parents of the girls involved and an independent source told the NRC that four girls were actually attacked in separate incidents, not two.

Two girls pressed charges, one girl, who was 17 at the time, gave a statement only and a fourth girl declined to get involved because her parents did not know she was out so late, the paper says.