Death penalty for Azovstal prisoners?

More than 1,700 Ukrainian soldiers who defended the Azov steel plant in Mariupol have surrendered since May 16, according to the Russian Defense Ministry. Among them were wounded, some of whom were transferred for treatment to Novoazovsk, which is in the area controlled by the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic.

Ukrainian Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maljar spoke of the evacuation of the soldiers from the steel plant and assured them that they would return home through an exchange procedure. President Volodymyr Zelensky also expressed his hope to save the lives of the soldiers. “Ukraine needs living Ukrainian heroes,” he stressed.

Death penalty for Azov fighters?

However, the Russian side is in no hurry to negotiate a swap. Russian State Duma Chairman Viacheslav Volodin went so far as to declare that the prisoners, whom he calls “Nazi criminals,” should not be returned to Ukraine. On May 26, the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation will decide whether to classify the Azov Regiment as a “terrorist organization” and thus ban it in Russia. The request of the Russian Prosecutor General’s Office will be discussed behind closed doors.

For his part, the chairman of the Duma Committee on International Affairs and a member of the Russian delegation in talks with Kyiv, Leonid Sluzki, proposed lifting the moratorium on the death penalty that has been in force in Russia since 1996, specifically to try the soldiers of the Azov regiment. “We must show the whole world that Ukrainian nationalists deserve only the death penalty”, he has threatened.

Guarantees of international law

According to German military expert and former NATO General Egon Rams, sentencing Ukrainian prisoners in Russia to the death penalty would be a clear violation of international law. “The soldiers who have been evacuated from Mariupol, including the wounded, are prisoners of war, according to the Geneva Conventions of 1949. If I hear that there are Duma deputies who suddenly threaten the death penalty, then it is evident that those Russian MPs have not correctly interpreted the legal basis or are starting to commit a war crime again,” Rams told ZDF.

The Geneva Conventions Relating to the Due Treatment of Prisoners of War were adopted in August 1949. Article 13 states: “Prisoners of war shall be treated humanely in all circumstances. It is prohibited and shall be regarded as a grave breach of the present Convention, any unlawful act, or any unlawful omission on the part of the detaining power, which involves the death or seriously endangers the health of a prisoner of war in its power.”

Andreas von Arnauld, director of the Institute and deputy dean of the Faculty of Law at the Christian Albrechts University in Kiel, stresses to DW that prisoners of war cannot be punished for their participation in the conflict, but they can be punished for war crimes. Therefore, they have the right to due process guarantees and a fair trial.

Consequences of the violation of the Geneva Conventions

According to Christina Binder, Professor of International Law and International Human Rights Protection at the University of the Bundeswehr in Munich, individuals can be held individually responsible before national courts for serious violations of the Geneva Conventions. However, Vladimir Putin enjoys immunity in this case as acting head of state. The jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court could also be considered.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian human rights activists are following the fate of their compatriots with concern. In an interview granted to the British portal iNews, the director of the “Centre for Civil Liberties in Ukraine”, lawyer Oleksandra Matvichuk, asked the UN to offer additional guarantees that Moscow complies with the provisions of international law and treats with dignity the Ukrainian prisoners of war. In her opinion, the story of the defenders of the Azov steel plant deserves books to be written and movies to be made about in the future. “This story must have a happy ending,” she said.