Yazidi Survivor Recounts Horrific Ordeal in Munich Trial
Munich, Germany – In a deeply emotional testimony before the Munich Higher Regional Court on Wednesday, a young Yazidi woman, identified as a victim in the so-called Yazidi trial, bravely detailed her harrowing experiences of enslavement, forced labor, and sexual violence at the hands of an Islamic State (IS) member. The 20-year-old witness, who was just 12 years old at the time of the alleged crimes, frequently broke down in tears upon seeing the main defendant in the courtroom.
Despite the emotional toll, and an offer from the presiding judge to pause her testimony, she continued, recounting the atrocities she endured between 2015 and 2017 within IS-controlled territories in Iraq.
Bought and Sold: A Child’s Nightmare
“I was bought and sold by six men,” the woman stated, her voice trembling. When asked if she could identify the defendant as one of these men, she responded, “I cannot look at him.”
According to investigators, an Iraqi couple, acting as part of the terrorist organization Islamic State, allegedly purchased two Yazidi girls as slaves, exploited them, and subjected them to sexual abuse. The Federal Prosecutor General has charged the couple with war crimes and crimes against humanity, among other offenses.
“Buy her, she hasn’t been raped yet”
The court has allocated four days for the witness’s testimony. “Before he bought me, he looked at me,” the 20-year-old recalled. He removed her veil and examined her hair. “He and his IS friends mocked me, saying, ‘Buy her, she hasn’t been raped yet.'” At that time, she was still a child.
In his household, she was forced to wash dishes and clean. At night, she was allegedly raped by the defendant. “He got a stick and hit the soles of my feet,” she testified, adding, “He forced me to sleep with him.” According to the Federal Prosecutor’s investigations, the then 12-year-old girl was sexually abused multiple times. The man’s partner is also co-accused, as she allegedly applied makeup to the child before sexual assaults. The witness further claimed that the defendant had previously raped another, even younger Yazidi girl he held captive.
She described her overwhelming fear, how he called her an infidel before assaulting her. She pleaded with him not to rape her. “I wished I was dead,” she said. He allegedly told her, “Either I rape you – or I beat you like this.” During the rapes, he played IS music in the background. “He made me feel like I was an infidel – and that God wanted it that way,” the witness recounted.
Defendant Lived in Munich for Years
The young woman belongs to the Yazidi religious minority, which faced systematic persecution, enslavement, and murder by the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq. The defendant had reportedly lived in Munich for over ten years as an asylum seeker before becoming radicalized in an Islamist mosque and traveling to Iraq in 2015 to join IS. He does not require an interpreter in court. The trial began in the spring, and its conclusion date remains uncertain.
Source: https://www.br.de/nachrichten/bayern/muenchner-jesiden-prozess-opfer-schildert-martyrium,V4zTboc
