# Amsterdam abuse suspect writes 900 handwritten pages in custody

> The text emerged at a preliminary hearing on Thursday in the case of Jan B. (67) from Almere, a suspect in a sex abuse case involving at least fourteen children; the next hearing is set for 26 January.

Society · published 2026-10-30 05:33 · updated 2026-10-30 07:18 · https://nlnow.nl/a/amsterdam-abuse-suspect-writes-900-handwritten-pages-in-custody/

B. wrote the 900 pages by hand in prison while in pre-trial detention. This emerged on Thursday at the fourth hearing in the case at the district court in Amsterdam.

The presiding judge said not everything B. wrote is equally legible.

It was the fourth pro forma hearing (proformazitting) in the case, a preliminary session held before the case is heard on its merits.

B. is a suspect and has not been convicted. He is a former municipal councillor in Almere.

At an earlier hearing, B. said he did not recognise himself in part of the suspicions against him.

B. was not at the hearing. The court heard that he will stay at the Pieter Baan Centrum, the psychiatric observation centre, for one more week, and that the researchers will then need four to six weeks to write a report.

The next hearing, again a preliminary session, is on 26 January. The conclusions of the psychiatrist and psychologist may be raised then.

## Background

- **pro-formazitting**: A pro forma hearing is a short, preliminary session of a Dutch court, held before a criminal case is heard on its merits. At this session the court handles procedural matters, such as checking the case file, deciding on the next steps and setting dates for later hearings, without going into the substance of the charges. It matters because Dutch criminal cases often pass through several such sessions before the actual trial takes place.
- **Pieter Baan Centrum**: The Pieter Baan Centre is the Dutch forensic psychiatric observation centre, based in Utrecht, where people suspected of a crime can be examined. Psychiatrists and psychologists there assess the person's mental state, whether they were criminally responsible at the time of the offence, and the risk they pose, and they write a report for the court. Suspects are usually admitted for an observation period set by the judge or prosecutor.

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