Illegal vatnik combatants
No, they are covered by the Geneva Conventions
Russia is currently involved in a strategic humanitarian advance backwards across the Dniepr.
Meanwhile there are reports about Russian stay behind troops.
I don’t think they will be difficult to find and caputre considering that Russian genocide, ethnic cleansing, bandenbekampfung and mafia republic pressgangs have cleared all hitherto liberated Ukrainian areas of men of military age - everybody is in graves around settlements, incinerated, placed in concentration camps or put into slave units.
Here are some pictures allegedly from Kherson. I can’t verify. WarMonitor is usually a good source.
Notice that one of the scum has a rifle, quite a few observers in the internet haven’t noticed that… I mean it could be an Ukrainian infiltrator. Doesn’t look too subtle.
Anyway, others say that the Geneva Conventions don’t apply…
This is German bandenbekampfung (earlier Conventions) and American Boltonite nonsense which in itself is a war crime.
The men, especially the one with a rifle, if they are Russian soldiers and not deserters, are war criminals. They are not ‘illegal combatants’ or whatever label is applied to them. Combatants should be appropriately marked. If they’re not, their status is subject to verification - they’re either naughty POWs or naughty civilians.
There is no such thing as a third category of ‘illegal/unlawful combatant’ under the Geneva Conventions. Everybody is either a combatant (soldier or equivalent) or a civilian. There can be soldiers or civilians. Some of those combatants and civilians can be criminals. There can additionally be additionally protected groups under civilians (say children, injured, sick) and soldiers (injured, sick).
Nobody is outside the Conventions. This is nonsense that has degraded international humanitarian law (IHL) thanks to the Bush/Bolton/Rumsted Doctrine of Fuck The Law. The Russians now gleefully apply Fuck The Law using the same exact arguments that the Bush and to some degree Obama (to his shame and pertaining to prisoners of war and not war of aggression) administrations did.
“Every person in enemy hands must be either a prisoner of war and, as such, be covered by the Third Convention; or a civilian covered by the Fourth Convention. There is no intermediate status; nobody in enemy hands can be outside the law."
This is covered by case law where the Serbs decided to genocide Bosnians on and used the defense they were illegal combatants. It’s the old bandenbekampfung argument which is always about finding a pretext for genocide. Well done, Bolton - my mate Phil Blood had major issues when he pointed out that American COIN was applying German bandenbekampfung tactics and strategy (see link at end for book).
It is important, however, to note that this finding is predicated on the view that there is no gap between the Third and the Fourth Geneva Conventions. If an individual is not entitled to the protections of the Third Convention as a prisoner of war (or of the First or Second Conventions) he or she necessarily falls within the ambit of Convention IV, provided that its article 4 requirements are satisfied. The Commentary to the Fourth Geneva Convention asserts that;
[e]very person in enemy hands must have some status under international law: he is either a prisoner of war and, as such, covered by the Third Convention, a civilian covered by the Fourth Convention, or again, a member of the medical personnel of the armed forces who is covered by the First Convention. There is no intermediate status; nobody in enemy hands can be outside the law. We feel that this is a satisfactory solution – not only satisfying to the mind, but also, and above all, satisfactory from the humanitarian point of view. This position is confirmed by article 50 of Additional Protocol I which regards as civilians all persons who are not combatants as defined in article 4(A) (1), (2), (3) and (6) of the Third Geneva Convention, and article 43 of the Protocol itself. Commentary,
An armed Russian dressed as a civilian is going to be under the Geneva Convention relative to the Treatment of Prisoners of War, 12 August 1949 (GCIII) of 1949:
1. Members of the armed forces of a Party to the conflict as well as members of militias or volunteer corps forming part of such armed forces.
Except he is guilty of a war crime under the Protocol Additional to the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949, and relating to the Protection of Victims of International Armed Conflicts (Protocol I), 8 June 1977.
Him dressing as a civilian makes hims him a naughty man with consequences, including:
PROHIBITION OF PERFIDY:
Article 37 -- Prohibition of perfidy
1. It is prohibited to kill, injure or capture an adversary by resort to perfidy. Acts inviting the confidence of an adversary to lead him to believe that he is entitled to, or is obliged to accord, protection under the rules of international law applicable in armed conflict, with intent to betray that confidence, shall constitute perfidy. The following acts are examples of perfidy:
(a) the feigning of an intent to negotiate under a flag of truce or of a surrender;
(b) the feigning of an incapacitation by wounds or sickness;
(c) the feigning of civilian, non-combatant status; and
and possibly comes under the Rome Statute:
Article 82
War crimes
For the purpose of this Statute, "war crimes" means:
(b) Other serious violations of the laws and customs applicable in international armed conflict, within
the established framework of international law, namely, any of the following acts:
(xi) Killing or wounding treacherously individuals belonging to the hostile nation or army;
The POW can be subject to punishment - after a proper trial! This gets complicated but you can't just shoot them a la Germans and Soviets in WW2.
The basic provision of Ukrainian law would be:
Article 438. Violation of rules of the warfare
1. Cruel treatment of prisoners of war or civilians, deportation of civilian population for forced labor, pillage of national treasures on occupied territories, use of methods of the warfare prohibited by international instruments, or any other violations of rules of the warfare recognized by international instruments consented to by binding by the Verkhovna Rada (Parliament) of Ukraine, and also giving an order to commit any such actions, -
shall be punishable by imprisonment for a term of eight to twelve years.
2. The same acts accompanied with a murder, -
shall be punishable by imprisonment for a term of ten to fifteen years, or life imprisonment.
That said killing somebody without trial because they were ‘spies’ or ‘not in uniform’ is very much a war crime and a pretty serious one.
Look, the evil DNR and LNR courts used the bullshit illegal combatant/mercenary designation to ‘sentence’ Westerners to death. This is not law. Don’t be a Russian. Even if Aiden was a mercenary (he very very much wasn't) then he would have rights as a civilian under art. 47. In Ukraine a mercenary, the Wagner type, not Aiden, is a criminal and still has rights:
Article 447. Mercenaries
1. Recruiting, financing, supplying and training of mercenaries for the purpose of using them in armed conflicts of other states or violent actions aimed at overthrowing of government or violation of territorial integrity, and also the use of mercenaries in war conflicts or operations, -
shall be punishable by imprisonment for a term of three to eight years.
A soldier dressed as a civilian is a criminal. He still enjoys rights. Which are limited but exist.
He is subject to trial for instance. Which might end badly - Operation Grief (Ardennes campaign 1944).
Pernass, Billing, and Schmidt were given a military trial at Henri-Chapelle on 21 December and were sentenced to death; they were executed by a firing squad on 23 December. Three more Germans were also tried on 23 December and shot at Henri-Chapelle on 26 December, seven more men were tried on 26 December and executed at Henri-Chapelle on 30 December, and three others were tried on 31 December and executed at Huy on 13 January 1945.
Those Russians can be pretty easily shibbolethed… despite what they think there are major differences between Ukrainians and Russians that Russians don’t and can’t acknowledge. Checking some relevant Ukrainian dates, asking about football teams…
The Wiki article on combatants is good. Well sourced and researched, but a little TL:DR.
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