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Trial aagainst Taha Al-J. (2020/21)

The trial at the Higher Regional Court (OLG) Frankfurt against Taha Al-J. is the world’s first criminal proceeding against an alleged ISIS perpetrator in connection with the genocide of the Yazidis. According to the indictment dated February 5, 2020, Taha Al-J. is accused of having participated as a member of the foreign terrorist organization “IS” in Syria, Iraq, and Turkey from 2013 to 2019 (§§ 129a, 129b German Criminal Code). He is alleged to have committed genocide against the religious minority of Yazidis (§ 6 German Code of Crimes against International Law - VStGB), crimes against humanity (§ 7 VStGB), war crimes against persons (§ 8 VStGB), human trafficking for the purpose of labor exploitation (§ 233 German Criminal Code), and murder of a five-year-old Yazidi girl (§ 211 German Criminal Code).

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Trial Monitoring program was unable to fully observe the proceedings. Monitoring is exclusively conducted on-site by students as part of the project’s teaching activities. To ensure the safety of the students, we were forced to suspend documentation.

On November 30, 2021, Taha Al-J. was found guilty of genocide pursuant to § 6 I 2 VStGB, crimes against humanity resulting in death pursuant to § 7 I Nos. 3, 5, 8 and 9, § 7 II VStGB, war crimes resulting in death, aiding and abetting war crimes against persons in two consolidated cases, and bodily harm resulting in death pursuant to §§ 8 I 3, 9. He was sentenced to life imprisonment and ordered to pay €50,000 to the co-plaintiff. The weekly reports prepared until mid-September 2020, as well as those of the closing arguments and verdict announcement, will follow.