The trial of Belgian IS fighter Sammy Djedou, also known as Abu Moussab al Belgiki, Musab al Belgiky or Abu Mousahab al-Belgiky, will begin on Thursday before the French-speaking Assize Court in Brussels.
Sammy Djedou, who is being tried in absentia, left for Syria in 2012 and never returned. If he is still alive, the man is now 35 years old. He was born in Brussels in 1989.
The federal public prosecutor's office, which opened a judicial file against Djedou on 12 October 2021, accuses him of genocide. Djedou is suspected of having committed murders and other serious crimes between 2 August 2014 and 14 April 2019 against an unknown number of people, members of the Yazidi religious community.
The man is also accused of rape and sexual slavery of three persons between 1 November 2014 and 31 December 2016.
These three victims, some of whom were minors at the time of the offences, are now 29, 27 and 28 years old and are acting as civil parties in this trial. Two of them live in Germany and France and will be present in court from Thursday onwards.
The trial against Sammy Djedou is the first trial in Belgium concerning the genocide of the Yazidis. The Netherlands, Germany and Sweden have already conducted similar trials. France will do so in 2027.
Experts recognise three aspects that are inherent to genocide: the murder of men, the rape of women as a weapon of war and the exploitation of children as soldiers.
