Facts
Nadine K. left Germany in December 2014 to join ISIS, following her husband.
According to the conviction, from spring 2015, the couple stayed in Mosul, Iraq, where Nadine K. kept the joint household and raised their daughter in accordance with ISIS ideology. The family lived in a house whose legal residents had fled or been displaced by ISIS.
In the house, Nadine K. and her husband reportedly stored a large number of explosives and weapons, including hand grenades, Kalashnikov assault rifles and a Glock pistol. In addition, they allegedly set up a reception center for single female ISIS members, with the approval and financial support of ISIS. They provided the women with board, lodging and support regarding marriages or divorces before the Sharia court.
From spring 2016, Nadine K. and her husband reportedly kept a Yazidi woman and forced her to do unpaid housework and child care. According to the conviction, the husband regularly raped and beat the enslaved woman, which Nadine K. knew. Nadine K. made sure that the woman could not escape. The woman had to conduct daily prayers in accordance with Islamic rules and observe fasting times during Ramadan. All this served the declared aim of ISIS to destroy the Yazidi faith.
In the fall of 2016, Nadine K. moved with her family and the enslaved Yazidi woman to Syria and lived in ISIS-controlled territory until the beginning of March 2019.
Procedure
In March 2019, Nadine K. was captured by Kurdish forces in Syria. Upon her return to Germany, she was arrested on 31 March 2022 and was placed in custody.
On 16 September 2022, the federal public prosecutor formally indicted Nadine K. The criminal trial began in January 2023 at the Higher Regional Court of Koblenz.
On 21 June 2023, the Higher Regional Court of Koblenz convicted Nadine K. of membership in a terrorist organization abroad, crimes against humanity by enslavement, deprivation of liberty and persecution, aiding and abetting genocide by extermination, aiding and abetting crimes against humanity by extermination, expulsion and sexual violence, aiding and abetting war crimes against persons by sexual violence and expulsion, trafficking in human beings for the purpose of labor exploitation, exploitation by taking advantage of a deprivation of liberty and severe deprivation of liberty. She was sentenced to a total term of nine years and three months of imprisonment.
Nadine K. filed an appeal against the judgement before the Federal Court of Justice.
On 10 July 2025, the Federal Court of Justice amended the verdict rendered on 21 June 2023, overturned the sentence, and referred the case back to the Higher Regional Court of Koblenz for a new hearing and decision. The Federal Court of Justice found legal errors regarding the conviction of Nadine K. on the charges of aiding and abetting genocide, aiding and abetting crimes against humanity through extermination and expulsion, and aiding and abetting war crimes against persons through expulsion, and acquitted her of these charges. The Higher Regional Court did prove the existence of a genocide committed by ISIS against the Yazidis. However, according to the Federal Court of Justice, Nadine K. did not contribute to creating living conditions for the Yazidis that were likely to cause their physical destruction, either in whole or in part.
On 15 December 2025, the Higher Regional Court of Koblenz found Nadine K. guilty of crimes against humanity through enslavement, deprivation of liberty, and persecution in conjunction with aiding and abetting crimes against humanity through sexual violence and war crimes against persons through sexual violence, with membership in a terrorist organization abroad, exercising actual control over weapons of war, human trafficking for the purpose of labor exploitation, exploitation by taking advantage of deprivation of liberty and aggravated deprivation of liberty. She was sentenced to eight years and six months’ imprisonment.