Supreme Court leader is very concerned about self-declared “sovereign” citizens

The President of the Supreme Court, Dineke de Groot, sounds the alarm in the newspaper Trouw about the growing number of citizens who declare themselves "autonomous" or "sovereign".

These people want to detach themselves from the state and refuse to pay taxes and fines. The Supreme Court has now received thousands of letters from citizens who believe they can deregister from the Dutch state in this way, Trouw wrote.

"We have to try to understand why these people are doing this," said De Groot. It is not usual for her to go public in this way. In principle, the Supreme Court only comments on specific legal cases, not on social problems.

De Groot believes it is necessary to sound the alarm now. She hopes that more attention will be paid to the actual problem: How is it possible that people get into such a bad situation that they want to disengage from the government?

"These people have been completely misled by disinformation," De Groot told Trouw. "They think that this way they won't have to pay any more bills. But it ends up with bailiffs." Ultimately, people can be evicted from their homes.

The National Counter-Terrorism and Security Coordinator (NCTV) is also concerned about these autonomous groups. The group consists of at least 10,000 citizens, possibly even more. The group consists of at least 10,000 civilians, possibly many more. According to the General Intelligence and Security Service (AIVD), the autonomists are part of a larger movement that is guilty of 'anti-institutional extremism'. They have the worldview that there is an "evil elite" in power that wants to oppress citizens.