International Legal Aspects of the Treatment of Prisoners of War in the Context of Official Crimes Committed by Military Personnel
Aytaj Allahverdiyeva1* , Elnara Guliyeva1
Abstract. The article comprehensively analyzes the international legal aspects arising from official crimes committed by military personnel and the treatment of prisoners of war. The research revealed that, in the context of modern armed conflicts, violations of international humanitarian law are mainly connected with the unlawful abuse of official authority by military personnel and the failure to comply with international legal norms. In particular, torture, inhuman and degrading treatment, unlawful detention, placement in dangerous conditions, and other violent acts committed against prisoners of war are regarded as war crimes under international law.
The article examines the international legal protection mechanisms for prisoners of war on the basis of the 1949 Third Geneva Convention, the 1977 Additional Protocols, and the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. In addition, the concept of official crimes committed by military personnel, their objective and subjective elements, as well as the legal characteristics of the subject and object of these crimes are analyzed from a legal perspective. During the research, issues of command responsibility, individual international criminal responsibility, and the international legal responsibility of states were evaluated on the basis of the practice of international tribunals and courts.
The research concludes that violations related to prisoners of war constitute not only breaches of international humanitarian law, but are also accompanied by violations of the fundamental principles of military service and military discipline. In this regard, the improvement of international and national legal mechanisms, ensuring the effective implementation of international humanitarian law, and increasing the level of legal training of military personnel are of particular importance.
Keywords: international humanitarian law, target selection, war crimes, Azerbaijani military law, Criminal Code, Patriotic War