Family recluse in the Netherlands: a man suspected of having held prisoner

This is a first track in the intriguing case of a Dutch family found on a farm in the Netherlands after nine years of confinement. Dutch prosecutors announced on Wednesday that the man arrested when six people were found in a part of the house is suspected of having detained them against their will and damaged their health.

Five children from 18 to 25 years old

"The man is currently suspected in the investigation of being involved in an illegal deprivation of liberty and harming the health of others," the prosecutor said in a statement. The suspect must appear before an examining magistrate on Thursday.

The family, consisting of a father and five children between the ages of 18 and 25, was found by police on Monday in a "small, closed room" inside an isolated farm in Ruinerwold, a village in north of the Netherlands. She lived there for years as a recluse for, according to a media, "wait for the end of time." A version not yet confirmed by the authorities but that does not really stick with the scenario of a family held captive.

58-year-old man arrested

The 58-year-old man on the spot, who is not the father, was arrested by the police because he did not cooperate with the investigation. A spokesman for the Austrian Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday that he was an Austrian national, born in Vienna. According to the Dutch and Austrian media, the man was known as "Josef, the Austrian" and had lived for several years with a group of young people.

The police were alerted by one of the sons, aged about 25, who went to a village bar on Sunday night in a "confused" state. According to the media, the latter has a Facebook account under the name "Jan" and, for the first time in nine years, has been active on the social network in June.

According to the local TV channel RTV Drenthe, the family lived in isolation and had a vegetable garden and a goat for food. Some of the children had no idea of ​​other people in the world.