War-Crime: Footage of Azerbaijan Soliders dragging the body of Two Armenian dead soldiers.

War-Crime: Footage of Azerbaijan Soliders dragging the body of Two Armenian dead soldiers.

Soldiers shot dead by Azerbaijan forces in Artsakh Armenia and there bodies mutilated and dragged.

Rule 113. Treatment of the Dead

Rule 113. Each party to the conflict must take all possible measures to prevent the dead from being despoiled. Mutilation of dead bodies is prohibited. Volume II, Chapter 35, Section B. Summary State practice establishes this rule as a norm of customary international law applicable in both international and non-international armed conflicts. International armed conflicts The obligation to take all possible measures to prevent the dead from being despoiled (or pillaged) was first codified in the 1907 Hague Convention (X).[1] It is now also codified in the Geneva Conventions.[2] It is also contained in Additional Protocol I,[3] albeit in more general terms of “respecting” the dead, which includes the notion of preventing the remains from being despoiled.[4] The obligation to take all possible measures to prevent the dead from being despoiled or the prohibition of the despoliation of the dead is set forth in numerous military manuals.[5] The despoliation of dead bodies is an offence under the legislation of many States.[6] In the Pohl case in 1947, the US Military Tribunal at Nuremberg stated that robbing the dead “is and always has been a crime”.[7] In addition, the prohibition of despoliation of dead bodies is an application of the general prohibition of pillage (see Rule 52). The prohibition of mutilating dead bodies in international armed conflicts is covered by the war crime of “committing outrages upon personal dignity” under the Statute of the International Criminal Court, which according to the Elements of Crimes also applies to dead persons (see commentary to Rule 90).[8] Many military manuals prohibit the mutilation or other maltreatment of the dead.[9] Mutilation of the dead is an offence under the legislation of many States.[10] In several trials after the Second World War, the accused were convicted on charges of mutilation of dead bodies and cannibalism.[11] The prohibition on mutilating the dead is further supported by official statements and other practice.[12]