During the second day of trial, Italian help employee Federico Motka informed the jury how he was captured, imprisoned and tortured by the phobia cell alongside different hostages who had been finally killed, together with Americans James Foley, Steven Sotloff, Kayla Mueller and Peter Kassig. The so-called Beatles — because the hostages got here to name them due to their British accents — had been the first handlers of the hostages and, in accordance with the Department of Justice, Elsheikh is the final of the group to face trial. His co-defendant pleaded responsible in September and the opposite member, Mohamed Emwazi, was killed in a drone strike in 2015.
Motka informed the jury he was captured in 2013 together with British help employee David Haines on a visit to Syria to higher perceive the wants of refugees within the space.
“I believe we’re getting kidnapped,” Motka testified that he informed his boss on the cellphone as masked males armed with weapons surrounded their automotive, finally pulling them out and pushing them within the trunk of their vehicles.
Motka was moved round to a number of totally different places throughout the 14 months he was held captive, one among which was a small room with a low roof the hostages nicknamed “the Box.” It was there that they endured what Motka known as “the regime of punishment.”
Beatings, starvation and execution
The Beatles, together with somebody the hostages known as “the Punisher,” would beat and torture Haines, Motka, journalist Foley — one of many Americans named within the costs towards Elsheikh — and his colleague, British journalist John Cantlie.
Motka mentioned that the group differentiated the Beatles — who they known as John, George and Ringo — by their most popular model of beatings.
“George was extra into boxing. John, he kicked lots,” Motka mentioned, including that Ringo, who prosecutors say is Elsheikh, “appreciated wrestling (and) headlocks.” One of these headlocks prompted Foley to cross out, Motka testified Thursday.
According to Motka, the hostages had been kicked, punched and crushed with a cable commonly by the Beatles and made to “maintain stress positions for hours.” They had been additionally pressured, Motka testified, to struggle each other for his or her leisure.
“We barely had the muscle energy to carry our arms,” Motka mentioned.
According to Motka, the Beatles waterboarded him and several other different hostages. “That was by far the worst factor that had occurred,” he mentioned, after describing shedding oxygen, inhaling water and panicking. “There wasn’t a minute’s peace.”
The hostages misplaced 50 to 70 kilos by the point of the waterboarding, later changing into absolutely emaciated, Motka mentioned. When they did get meals, they could not hold it down. During one lengthy transport in an ISIS caravan, the hostages survived off dates for a number of days at the back of a truck, he testified.
The courtroom was additionally proven a video of a Syrian hostage being shot within the head, kneeling on the fringe of a pre-dug grave.
Motka recognized himself among the many group of hostages, who had been proven kneeling on the opposite aspect of the grave and every holding handwritten indicators demanding ransom for his or her launch.
One of the Beatles, Motka testified, requested him what he thought in regards to the execution.
“It’s horrific,” Motka mentioned.
The Beatle, Motka testified, replied: “That’s an excellent reply.”