The NetherlandsThe Dutch action group Virus Truth ceases to exist. The immediate reason is a recent lawsuit, which led to ING Bank being allowed to close the bank account. “Participation in society is impossible without an account. So that means we’re going to stop,” says leader Jeroen Pols. In our country, co-founder Willem Engel is best known for taking virologist Marc Van Ranst (KU Leuven) to court on several occasions.
The protest group was founded in early 2020 and was initially active under the name Viruswaanzin. Later this became Virus Truth. The group opposed government measures to prevent the spread of the corona virus, such as the curfew, the vaccination campaign and the use of corona apps.
Virus Truth regularly went to court to get a ban on such measures, but lost almost every case. In Belgium, Engel is known for directly summoning virologist Marc Van Ranst twice. The Dutchman thought that some of the professor’s statements were defamatory. Each time Van Ranst was acquitted.
Piece of land in Spain
Virus truth lived on donations from like-minded people. They transferred the money to the ING account of Engel’s dance school. The Dutchman borrowed 50,000 euros from the foundation to buy a piece of land in Spain. He has since repaid that money, but for ING it was the last straw. The bank closed the account in November 2020. Virus Truth went to court to challenge the decision and was allowed to use the bank account in the meantime. Last month, however, the court in Amsterdam ruled that closing the account was justified because Engel had acted “not with integrity”.
Without a bank account, participation in society is impossible, say the founders, and so the action group ends.
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