Peter-Arjan Erkel (born 9 March 1970 in
Prins Alexander
Prins Alexander is a borough in the northeast of Rotterdam, Netherlands.
Prins Alexander has 7 neighbourhoods:
* Het Lage Land
* Kralingseveer
* Nesselande
*Ommoord
*Oosterflank
*Prinsenland
*Zevenkamp
Public transportation
Prins Alexander is ...
,
Rotterdam
Rotterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Rotte'') is the second largest city and municipality in the Netherlands. It is in the province of South Holland, part of the North Sea mouth of the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta, via the ''"Ne ...
) is a Dutch former medical aid worker who was head of the relief mission for
Médecins Sans Frontières
(MSF; pronounced ), also known as Doctors Without Borders, is a humanitarian medical non-governmental organisation (NGO) or charity of French origin known for its projects in conflict zones and in countries affected by endemic diseases. ...
(MSF) in
Dagestan, a constituent republic of
Russia
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...
. His main task was caring for refugees fleeing from fighting in neighboring
Chechnya.
Disappearance
Erkel was
abducted by three gunmen in
Makhachkala
Makhachkala ( rus, Махачкала, , məxətɕkɐˈla, links=yes),; av, Махӏачхъала, Maħaçqala; ce, ХӀинжа-ГӀала, Hinƶa-Ġala; az, Маһачгала, Mahaçqala; nog, Махачкала; lbe, Махачкъала; ...
on 12 August 2002. The insurgency phase of the
Second Chechen War
The Second Chechen War (russian: Втора́я чече́нская война́, ) took place in Chechnya and the border regions of the North Caucasus between the Russian Federation and the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria, from August 1999 ...
was still ongoing at the time, and Erkel writes in his own biography that he was guarded by "heavily armed muslim rebels", with whom he managed to have limited conversations during his abduction.
Rescue
On 11 April 2004, Erkel was free again and appeared to be in reasonably good health. Originally, the Dutch government claimed that Erkel was rescued in a special operation conducted jointly by the Russian (Federal Security Service) FSB and local Dagestani police and that Arjan was slightly hurt in the storming of the hideout. The government eventually admitted that that was a lie and that they paid a 1 million
euro
The euro ( symbol: €; code: EUR) is the official currency of 19 out of the member states of the European Union (EU). This group of states is known as the eurozone or, officially, the euro area, and includes about 340 million citizens . ...
ransom to free Erkel, but claimed that it didn't pay the ransom itself but on behalf of the organisation, claiming it was a
loan
In finance, a loan is the lending of money by one or more individuals, organizations, or other entities to other individuals, organizations, etc. The recipient (i.e., the borrower) incurs a debt and is usually liable to pay interest on that ...
that MSF had orally promised to pay back. MSF refutes this and in June 2004 the Dutch government announced a
lawsuit.
This is the first time a national government has sued an aid agency.
Aftermath
MSF has suspended its operations in
Chechnya several times over kidnappings of its personnel.
In March 2007 the
Dutch government
The politics of the Netherlands take place within the framework of a parliamentary representative democracy, a constitutional monarchy, and a decentralised unitary state.''Civil service systems in Western Europe'' edited by A. J. G. M. Bekk ...
lost the case: MSF does not have to pay back the 770,000 euro the government has paid, and gets 45,000 euro back of the 230,000 euro it paid through the government. The government
appealed; the appeal was lost in February 2008. The Dutch government appealed again at the Federal Tribunal in Lausanne and won the case, forcing MSF to pay back 270,000 euro to the Dutch Government.
See also
*
Active measures
*
List of kidnappings
*
List of solved missing person cases
Lists of solved missing person cases include:
* List of solved missing person cases: pre-2000
* List of solved missing person cases: post-2000
See also
* List of kidnappings
* List of murder convictions without a body
* List of people who di ...
References
External links
Jamestown MSF and Dutch government trade accusations over Erkel
MSFArjan Erkel kidnapping: How the puzzle was solved
{{DEFAULTSORT:Erkel, Arjan
1970 births
2000s missing person cases
Dutch anthropologists
Formerly missing people
Kidnapped Dutch people
Living people
Missing person cases in Russia
Physicians from Rotterdam