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Trial against Jennifer W.

On January 26, 2023, the Federal Court of Justice (BGH) dealt with the appeal filed by the Federal Prosecutor General against the verdict of the 8th Criminal Senate of the Higher Regional Court Munich (OLG Munich) in the case against Jennifer W.

This trial is regarded as the first criminal proceeding to legally address the systematic persecution of the Yazidi people by the “Islamic State” (IS).

The OLG Munich had established as proven that Jennifer W., originally from Lower Saxony, traveled to Syria in 2014 and joined the so-called “Islamic State” (IS) there. She married Taha Al J. according to Islamic law. Together with him, the defendant held the co-plaintiff Nora T. and her 5-year-old daughter as slaves in their household. The co-plaintiff and her daughter belonged to the ethnoreligious group of the Yazidis, who were specifically enslaved, persecuted, and killed by the “IS.”

In summer 2015, Jennifer W.’s husband reportedly tied the co-plaintiff’s daughter in the courtyard of the house under the midday heat as punishment, which resulted in the child’s death. According to the Higher Regional Court, Jennifer W. did not intervene, although she recognized the life-threatening situation the child was in and could have intervened at the time of the act.

The court considered mitigating factors in favor of the defendant, noting that Jennifer W. had limited ability to end the enslavement of the two and only realized late that the child could die from the punishment by her husband.

In October 2021, Jennifer W., then 31 years old, was convicted, among other charges, of membership in a terrorist organization abroad, aiding and abetting attempted murder by omission, and crimes against humanity. She was sentenced to a total prison term of 10 years. The Federal Prosecutor General had demanded a life sentence for the defendant and therefore filed an appeal against the verdict. According to the prosecutor, the OLG Munich should not have considered a lesser degree of the crime of enslavement in its ruling. The defendant’s defense, which had argued for a two-year sentence for membership in a terrorist organization abroad, also appealed the court’s judgment.

During a visit to Karlsruhe, the Trial-Monitoring project was able to observe and document the hearing before the 3rd Criminal Senate of the BGH. In the approximately two-hour hearing, the presiding judge emphasized that the trial courts—in this case, the OLG Munich—are responsible for the legal assessment of the act, not the BGH, which only examines the sentencing. Whether the verdict would be overturned depended on whether there were possible legal errors affecting the sentencing. The defendant’s appeal, which was without further reasoning, was not addressed during the hearing.

On March 9, the 3rd Criminal Senate of the BGH announced its verdict, granting the Federal Prosecutor General’s appeal and largely overturning the OLG Munich’s verdict due to legal errors.

The court criticized that the OLG Munich had considered the crime of enslavement with fatal consequences as a lesser degree of a crime against humanity, which the BGH found legally erroneous. The BGH ruled that the Munich court had failed to consider all aggravating circumstances. In particular, the inhumane motives and goals of the defendant Jennifer W. were disregarded by the OLG Munich. The defendant’s appeal, which alleged violations of formal and substantive law without further explanation, was dismissed by the BGH as obviously unfounded.

For more information, please refer to the related press release by the BGH.