The chairman of paedophile lobby group Stichting Martijn has been jailed for three years, six months suspended, for possessing a vast collection of child pornography.

Ad van den Berg, 67, was also given five year’s probation because the court said there is a serious risk of him re-offending.
Van den Berg claimed the collection – some 150,000 photographs and 7,500 films – was for research. Some of it featured very young children, the court was told.
Court
Neither Van den Berg nor his lawyer was in court for the verdict. Attendance is not compulsory in the Dutch legal system.
A spokesman for the foundation told the Volkskrant the sentence is ‘too ridiculous for words’ and said Van den Berg had been harshly treated because he is well known.
The Martijn foundation came under fire in June, when the public prosecution department ruled that there is no reason to ban or prosecute it.

Europe
This led Christian Democrat MP Pieter Omtzigt to ask the Council of Europe to state if it feels the Netherlands is meeting anti-child abuse treaties by not banning group.
‘Eight current or former board members of Martijn have been convicted of sex crimes and another is currently being prosecuted,’ Omtzigt told ANP at the time. ‘The treaty states explicitly that the foundation can be banned.’