By Genevieve Gluck
June 27, 2023
Two Dutch nationals known for their involvement in pro-pedophilia activism have been sentenced to 10 years in prison by Ecuadorian authorities. Marthijn Uittenbogaard, 50, from Hengelo and his husband Lesley Luijs, 34, were found guilty by a court in Manabí of the possession of child pornography, having fled their home country following a prior conviction.
Uittenbogaard was able to leave the Netherlands while released on appeal of a six-month prison sentence handed down in Rotterdam last year. The conviction was a penalty meted out for continuing the banned pedophile organization Vereniging MARTIJN, a pro-pedophile activist organization similar to the US-based North American Man / Boy Love Association (NAMBLA) which advocated for the normalization of pedophilic sexual abuse.
The two men were first arrested last year as a result of collaborative efforts made by organizations working to combat child sexual exploitation: Operation Underground Railroad, based in the United States, and Free a Girl, which operates out of the Netherlands.
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According to Ecuadorian police, at the time of his arrest, Luijs was found with two minors in a hotel located in the coastal resort of Canoa. Uittenbogaard was also arrested around the town of Canoa after the Transnational Crime Investigation Unit of the National Police of Ecuador became aware he had allegedly sexually abused “dozens” of children while staying there.
According to Free a Girl, several minors regularly stayed at Uittenbogaard’s residence. They were allegedly lured into the home under the premise of playing video games. In exchange for sweets and money, Uittenbogaard coerced them into sexual acts. He also reportedly organized parties for children at his pool, where the youth were then groped and sexually assaulted.
Uittenbogaard’s devices were seized and found to contain child sexual abuse materials featuring children between the ages of 7 and 12. His husband Luijs is also a pro-bestiality activist.
Both Luijs and Uittenbogaard were part of an international pedophile network, which included a third man named Nelson Maatman who was arrested in Mexico City last year with 4 terabytes (4000GB) of child sexual abuse materials across a number of external storage devices.
Uittenbogaard being interviewed for the Associated Press in 2006.
Maatman, 27, had fled the Netherlands in February while facing charges related to the possession of over 10,000 pieces of child sexual exploitation material found during an investigation at his home two years prior. He was released into the community pending trial under the condition that he not leave the country. Maatman was allegedly seeking political refugee status in Mexico.
Between 2014 and 2021, Maatman allegedly managed the Vereniging MARTIJN website, which lobbied for the legalization of sex with children, claiming that they are capable of consenting to sexual relations.
In 2020, the same year that his home was raided, Maatman attempted to re-establish the banned pedophile association Vereniging MARTIJN.
MARTIJN, founded by Uittenbogaard, was banned and dissolved by the Supreme Court of the Netherlands in 2014 because its members promoted the sexual abuse of children. Uittenbogaard also founded The Party for Neighborly Love, Freedom, and Diversity (PNVD) in 2006, which advocates for legalizing child sexual abuse materials (CSAM) and lowering the age of consent to 12 years old.
In 2006, a Dutch court rejected an attempt by child safeguarding campaigners to ban Uittenbogaard’s Brotherly Love, Freedom and Diversity party (PNVD), which again sought to drop the age of consent from 16 to 12, and lobbied to legalize child pornography. The group additionally campaigned for pornography to be shown publicly on television. PNVD was formally disbanded by the government in 2014.
BEHIND BARS
In coordination with #HSI , #OUR and @USEmbassySV , in #Manabí , we arrested 1 subject involved in the crime of child pornography.
They used international platforms to disseminate visual material, consumed by a pedophilia network.
#EjeInvestigativo ("Investigative Axis")
In coordination with #HSI , #OUR and @USEmbassySV , in #Manabí , we arrested 1 subject involved in the crime of child pornography.
They used international platforms to disseminate visual material, consumed by a pedophilia network.#EjeInvestigativo ("Investigative Axis")
The Netherlands, which in 2006 was the first nation to implement the use of puberty-halting drugs on children, has a troubling history of pro-pedophilia advocacy being pushed by both government and public figures.
In February of 2020, Maatman gave a talk at the University of Amsterdam arguing in defense of pedophilia. The University of Amsterdam later issued an apology for inviting Maatman as a guest lecturer.
During his speech he spoke highly of professor Gert Hekma, a Dutch sociologist and former University of Amsterdam professor in the fields of gender and sexuality who has written extensively in support of pedophilia as a “sexual variation.”
“Dutch universities are one of the last places I can speak frank (sic),” said Maatman. “Until 1994 pedophiles were part of the International Lesbian and Gay Alliance which just so happened to be 25 years ago. Not only that, but up until 2001 pedophiles were a common partaker in Pride Events in the Netherlands, and not just here,” he stated during his presentation.
A widely-cited Dutch academic, Hekma co-created a petition addressed to the Supreme Court of the Netherlands demanding the government refrain from banning Uittenbogaard’s organization.
In a 2021 academic anthology titled Histories of Sexology: Between Science and Politics, Hekma emphasized that during the 1970’s, the Dutch Movement for Sexual Reform campaigned for “minority groups… the main ones in the NVSH being transsexuals and transvestites, sadomasochists, exhibitionists and pedophiles.”
Attempts to lower the age of consent to 12 were unsuccessful, Hekma said, “due to a growing feminist concern.”
According to the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF)’s annual report published on April 26, 62% of all CSAM globally is hosted by European Union nations. Out of the 156,300 URLs which included CSAM hosted on servers in EU member states, 66% were from the Netherlands. The country also accounts for 41% of the global hosting.
