Ukraine War: Prosecution of Azov soldiers could violate Geneva Conventions

Created: 05/19/2022, 17:44

By: Tanja Koch

For 82 days, Azov militants fought off Russian attacks on the Mariupol steelworks before being ordered to lay down their arms to allow 53 seriously wounded soldiers to be evacuated.

© Imago

Russia could execute prisoners of war who surrendered in Mariupol as part of the Ukraine war.

That would contradict the Geneva Agreement.

Mariupol - Vladimir Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov promised on Tuesday that the soldiers who surrendered in the Azov stables would be treated according to "international standards".

This is reported by nzz.ch.

But other Russian officials took a completely different view.

The pro-Russian Donetsk separatist leader Denis Pushkin, for example, said on Wednesday (May 18) that a court would decide the fate of the fighters.

Russian Senator Andrey Klichas called for the death penalty for the soldiers.

Ukraine war: Prosecuting soldiers would probably contradict the Geneva Conventions

But that could contradict the Geneva Conventions.

These state that prisoners of war may not be punished for having taken part in acts of war.

This is reported by guardian.de in an analysis.

British Armed Forces Secretary James Heappey had expressed similar concerns to radio station LBC: "There has been enough atrocity in this war in my opinion without the execution or whatever of prisoners of war." But he fears that it will boil down to this.

“I think we need to be clear that the West would condemn this type of atrocity in the strongest possible terms.

The status of prisoners of war is enshrined in the Geneva Convention.”

War in Ukraine: Prosecution according to Geneva Conventions only possible for war crimes

The Geneva Conventions consist of four treaties and three additional protocols that set international legal standards for humanitarian treatment in war.

For example, as can be seen in the federal legal information system, the agreement on the treatment of prisoners of war states that they may only be prosecuted in the case of war crimes. 

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"Where any law, regulation or general order of the Detaining Power criminalizes acts committed by a prisoner of war when the same acts are not punishable when committed by members of the armed forces of the Detaining Power, such acts shall only entail disciplinary punishment." , is written in Article 82.

Specifically, detention under humane conditions is possible in order to prevent further participation in the conflict.

But Russia justified the Ukraine war with the fact that members of the Azov regiment in Mariupol were responsible for war crimes.

"Nazi criminals should not be exchanged," said Vyacheslav Volodin, chairman of the State Duma, in a speech on Tuesday (May 17), referring to Ukraine's prisoner exchange offers.

“Our country treats those who have surrendered or been captured humanely.

But with regard to the Nazis, our position should remain unchanged: they are war criminals and we must do everything we can to bring them to justice.” So to what extent Russia will comply with the Geneva Conventions in this regard is not clear.

(tk)