Ignoring the bias in the article, the key takeaway is this: Two serving members of the Ukrainian army have been sentenced to death by Russian controlled court for being mercenaries - Which they are not.
The particular reason the court ruled this way is executing mercenaries is not a war crime, but executing active duty soldiers is.
If Russia goes through with the execution, this isn’t the grey area of “did they know they shelled a school?”, it is “they absolutely executed an active duty solider” - Which is an open-and-shut war crime case, with undeniable proof.
Why are you so concerned about these mercenaries? They have already been sentenced, and no one can save them now. Certainly not some politicians with their condemnations.
And you can consider it a war crime if you want, but then what? More sanctions on Russia?
OP only spelt out the facts of this particular case, which seem pretty clear cut. Most likely, Russia hopes the UK government will use this case to pressure Ukraine’s government into a prisoner swap, sparing the lives of these soldiers in exchange for some of there own.
This guy is hardly important enough. If Russia was interested in him, they would have brought him directly to Moscow. Instead they chose to give him to Donetsk, to make an example of him.
They literally volunteered to fight and put their lives on the line. Exeucting soldiers is the least of my concerns. I am more worried about the civilians and innocents dying in this war.
Regardless, it’s still a war crime. There are well established international agreements that forbid this treatment. It behooves Russia to end this mistreatment of its PoW’s or it should not expect its own soldiers to be treated according to international laws of war.
And Russian soldiers have murdered tied up civilians. Russia is not the one with its territorial integrity at risk. It can afford to sit back and do things right without committing war crimes. Remember when there was so much (justified) outcry from the general public about the CIA being involved in torture as part of the War on Terrorism? This is much the same situation, where a larger power is dealing with a much smaller power. While ideally both sides would follow the laws of war, I put much more responsibility on the more powerful actor to do so.
Then lets wait for the end of the war and real investigation before judging anyone. For example, Ukraine has admitted just a few days ago that all the reports of rape by Russian soldiers were made up, and the responsible official was fired.
Breaking the law might not be a concern to you, but it isn’t something you want to normalize. If crimes go unpunished, you’ll see crime rate rise quickly.
Executing soldiers might not be a concern of yours, but you don’t want to normalize war crimes. If you normalize war crimes, you’ll get more things like the Mỹ Lai massacre
Problem is that the west normalized war crimes a long time ago. US regularly murders civilians and nobody is ever held accountable. A legal system can only work when it’s applied uniformly.
If you thought for even a moment that I care the slightest bit about what agreements oppressive states make among themselves, you are very wrong.
It is the enforcers of law that commit the most heinous wrongs against humanity, yet you somehow make the strange effort of associating heinous wrongs against humanity with not following the law put together by oppressive States.
Ignoring the bias in the article, the key takeaway is this: Two serving members of the Ukrainian army have been sentenced to death by Russian controlled court for being mercenaries - Which they are not.
The particular reason the court ruled this way is executing mercenaries is not a war crime, but executing active duty soldiers is.
If Russia goes through with the execution, this isn’t the grey area of “did they know they shelled a school?”, it is “they absolutely executed an active duty solider” - Which is an open-and-shut war crime case, with undeniable proof.
Why are you so concerned about these mercenaries? They have already been sentenced, and no one can save them now. Certainly not some politicians with their condemnations.
And you can consider it a war crime if you want, but then what? More sanctions on Russia?
OP only spelt out the facts of this particular case, which seem pretty clear cut. Most likely, Russia hopes the UK government will use this case to pressure Ukraine’s government into a prisoner swap, sparing the lives of these soldiers in exchange for some of there own.
This guy is hardly important enough. If Russia was interested in him, they would have brought him directly to Moscow. Instead they chose to give him to Donetsk, to make an example of him.
Is it really so odd that someone might disapprove of war crimes?
They literally volunteered to fight and put their lives on the line. Exeucting soldiers is the least of my concerns. I am more worried about the civilians and innocents dying in this war.
Regardless, it’s still a war crime. There are well established international agreements that forbid this treatment. It behooves Russia to end this mistreatment of its PoW’s or it should not expect its own soldiers to be treated according to international laws of war.
If you thought for even a moment that I care the slightest bit about what agreements oppressive states make among themselves, you are very wrong.
Russian prisoners of war have been tortured and murdered by Ukrainian soldiers since the first days of war, so this is hardly a threat.
And Russian soldiers have murdered tied up civilians. Russia is not the one with its territorial integrity at risk. It can afford to sit back and do things right without committing war crimes. Remember when there was so much (justified) outcry from the general public about the CIA being involved in torture as part of the War on Terrorism? This is much the same situation, where a larger power is dealing with a much smaller power. While ideally both sides would follow the laws of war, I put much more responsibility on the more powerful actor to do so.
Then lets wait for the end of the war and real investigation before judging anyone. For example, Ukraine has admitted just a few days ago that all the reports of rape by Russian soldiers were made up, and the responsible official was fired.
Breaking the law might not be a concern to you, but it isn’t something you want to normalize. If crimes go unpunished, you’ll see crime rate rise quickly.
Executing soldiers might not be a concern of yours, but you don’t want to normalize war crimes. If you normalize war crimes, you’ll get more things like the Mỹ Lai massacre
Problem is that the west normalized war crimes a long time ago. US regularly murders civilians and nobody is ever held accountable. A legal system can only work when it’s applied uniformly.
If you thought for even a moment that I care the slightest bit about what agreements oppressive states make among themselves, you are very wrong.
It is the enforcers of law that commit the most heinous wrongs against humanity, yet you somehow make the strange effort of associating heinous wrongs against humanity with not following the law put together by oppressive States.