Belgium Sets Citizens Guilty Of Genocide Cases In Iraq-Syria

Illustration of the Belgian flag. (Patrick Robert Doyle-Unsplash)

JAKARTA - Belgium has shown a bold step in punishing its own citizens who are proven to have committed genocide.

On Thursday local time it was reported by AFP that the Brussels Court found a Belgian citizen, Sammy Djedou, guilty of genocide against the Yazidi minority in Iraq and Syria.

Djedou, a former Daesh group fighter, is thought to have died in a 2016 airstrike based on a Pentagon report.

Belgian authorities have never received an official confirmation of his death. However, he chose to try him in absence of a mass crime case against Yazidi.

Djedou, who was previously convicted of absentia on charges of Belgium terrorism, was found guilty of "genocide" of his role since 2014 onwards, in Daesh's campaign to eradicate the minority group.

He was also found guilty of "crime against humanity" over the rape and sexual slavery of women Yazidi.

Two of Djedou's victims testified about their suffering at the previous trial.

Olivia Venet, the plaintiff's lawyer, called the case "historic" for the Belgian country that supplies the most foreign fighters to Daesh per capita.

Sweden in February 2025 has also tried those accused of committing genocide against Yazidi.