Argos is a Dutch radio show, broadcast on

NPO Radio 1 NPO Radio 1 is a public-service radio channel in the Netherlands, broadcasting mainly news and sport. It is part of the Netherlands Public Broadcasting system, NPO. History The channel originated in 1947 as "Hilversum 2", and transmitted using ...

on Saturday afternoon. The show first aired in October 1992. Argos tries to shed light on abuse of power and problems in society by means of research and to bring investigations to the attention of politicians by means of research. The show won the Zilveren Reissmicrofoon in 2017 after winning the Rooie Reus-Prijs already in 2012.

Ritual abuse

In 2020, Argos released their one-year investigation 'Shards of glass and dark rituals' concerning

Satanic ritual abuse The Satanic panic is a moral panic consisting of over 12,000 unsubstantiated cases of Satanic ritual abuse (SRA, sometimes known as ritual abuse, ritualistic abuse, organized abuse, or sadistic ritual abuse) starting in the United States in th ...

. Six well-known people were mentioned as perpetrators by multiple participants in the investigation, and over ten abuse locations. A warehouse in the Bollenstreek was marked as a location for 'storage' and production of child pornography. Argos' journalists Sanne Terlingen, Huub Jaspers and Sophie blok received an anonymous email during this investigation stating the journalists had to 'be aware' because 'they know about your investigation', in which the anonymous sender mentioned ‘they’re going to get rid of evidence – just like they did with Dutroux’. The same day as the journalists received the e-mail, the warehouse in the Bollenstreek burnt down. According to Argos, the damage had been classified so severe by the fire department a cause of fire could not be determined. As a response to parliamentary questions following, Dutch minister of Justice

Ferdinand Grapperhaus Ferdinand Bernhard Joseph "Ferd" Grapperhaus (born 8 November 1959) is a Dutch politician who served as Minister of Justice and Security in the Third Rutte cabinet from 26 October 2017 until 10 January 2022. He is a member of the Christian Democ ...

said on 27 August 2020 there would be 'no independent investigation into Ritual Abuse' of children in The Netherlands. The

Green Left The term green left refers primarily to a political affiliation that combines elements of green politics and left-wing politics in countries where the term is used. It is primarily a social justice and human rights oriented ideology, with an expa ...

, the

Socialist Party Socialist Party is the name of many different political parties around the world. All of these parties claim to uphold some form of socialism, though they may have very different interpretations of what "socialism" means. Statistically, most of th ...

and the Labour Party criticised the minister for his decision. On 13 October the

House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entitles. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often c ...

approved a motion in which the PvdA, GL and the SP requested that an independent investigation be conducted into the nature and extent of "organized sadistic abuse of children", bypassing Grapperhaus' original refusal to investigate ritual abuse.

References

{{Reflist Dutch radio programs