Former justice ministry civil service chief Joris Demmink and former justice ministers Ivo Opstelten and Fred Teeven have been ordered to appear as witnesses at a court case into claims Demmink is a child abuser.

The AD says judges in Amsterdam have agreed to a request by lawyers acting for the alleged victim, Bart van Well, that the three be questioned about the claims.

Van Well says that as a young teenager in the 1980s he had sex with a man in the back of a car whom he recognised as the former justice ministry chief. He is claiming damages from the state for failing to take child prostitution seriously.

The Amsterdam court has now agreed to hear Demmink and the former ministers under oath at a hearing to determine if there is enough evidence to press ahead with the case, the AD says.

Opstelten and Teeven have been ordered to appear to answer questions on a secret police investigation into a high-powered paedophile network at the end of the 1990s. Both men deny Demmink was investigated.

Demmink has always denied allegations of paedophilia.

The public prosecution department is also currently investigating claims made by two Turkish men who say they were abused by Demmink as boys. The department was ordered to look into the claims after the men went to court to force an inquiry.