Lolita K., French “survivor” returned from Syria, accused of genocide of the Yazidi minority

Lolita K., a French “survivor” who returned from Syria in August 2021 and was already being prosecuted in France for terrorism crimes, is now also accused of genocide against the Yazidi minority, the national anti-terrorism prosecutor said on Friday at the request of AFP. Following interrogation by investigators on Tuesday, the suspect was also charged with complicity in genocide, crimes against humanity and complicity, Pnat reported.

The 35-year-old French woman is suspected of enslaving a Yazidi child in 2017, according to two sources close to the case. His lawyer, Louis Heloun, did not want to comment. According to two sources close to the case, Lolita K. “vigorously disputed” the charges in the presence of the investigating judge. The defense cited “coercion,” one of those sources said.

The ex-wife of the emir of the Islamic State group.

According to Pnat, Lolita K. is the “third woman” among the “ghosts” already prosecuted in France for terrorism crimes, who will be charged with genocide and crimes against humanity, punishable by a French jury. The first woman was charged “back in 2022,” one source close to the case said. Then came the second indictment: Sonia M., another “ghost” from Syria and the former wife of the emir of the Islamic State (IS) group, against whom the anti-terrorism prosecution demanded trial in early May.

At the end of 2016, a so-called “structural” preliminary investigation was launched into the facts of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes committed in Iraq and Syria since 2012 “to the detriment of ethnic and religious minorities,” the National Anti-Terrorism Office explained. The prosecutor’s office at the end of April (Pnat) reports AFP. “The goal is to document these crimes and identify French criminals belonging to the Islamic State organization,” the prosecutor added.