A written inquiry by Ulla Jelpke, spokeswoman for domestic policy of the parliamentary group DIE LINKE, revealed that the Federal Public Prosecutor General's Office is investigating in at least five cases against members of the ISIS for crimes against the Yazidi community. The investigations are still undercover at the moment and the accused are not yet aware of the allegations; there have been neither searches nor questioning so far. The "Bayerischer Rundfunk" suspects that these are crimes committed by women who travelled from Germany to Syria and Iraq to join the ISIS. Trials already underway against ISIS supporters indicate the possible direction of the investigations.

Jelpke: ISIS women played a key role in enslavement

Ulla Jelpke welcomed the action of the judiciary. She said that ISIS women in particular had played a key role in enslaving Yazidi girls and women, adding: “They pretend to be naive and claim to have worked only in the home and not to have witnessed the crimes. But female ISIS members are as much perpetrators as the men. They themselves have exploited, tortured and in some cases murdered female slaves.”

Jelpke pointed out that: "The judicial authorities are often faced with the problem that ISIS followers who have returned to Germany cannot be proven to have committed any concrete crimes beyond mere membership in the ISIS - this is especially true for women. I hope that by clearing up the whole complex of the enslavement and rape of children and women by the ISIS, it will be possible to hold German ISIS supporters accountable for their crimes.”

“Northern Syria must not be left alone with ISIS prisoners”

The German politician continued: "The Kurds in Northern Syria must not be left alone with tens of thousands of ISIS prisoners. The federal German government should establish direct contact with the autonomous administration authorities and provide material support for the care of the many prisoners. But this can only be a first step. In addition, to relieve the burden on the North Syrian autonomous authorities, German ISIS members must be taken out of the prison camps there as quickly as possible and brought to trial in Germany. The autonomous administration authorities have been demanding this for a long time. The delaying tactics of the German government for years are untenable. Many ISIS members from Germany were radicalized here before they went to Syria and committed crimes. Therefore it is also right to bring them to justice here."