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Huh? Summary execution has always been the punishment for perfidy under the laws of war.



Do you have a reference for that? Even as perfidy is a war crime, we do not generally allow for summary execution for war criminals.


ICRC says perfidy places you outside of the bounds of protection of international law:

https://ihl-databases.icrc.org/en/customary-ihl/v1/rule65


I looked at that page before writing my comment.

It says that perfidy is a war crime. However, I don’t see anything supporting summary execution.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Summary_execution says the following:

“Francs-tireurs (a term originating in the Franco-Prussian War) are enemy civilians or militia who continue to fight in territory occupied by a warring party and do not wear military uniforms, and may otherwise be known as guerrillas, partisans, insurgents, etc. Though they could be legally jailed or executed by most armies a century ago, the experience of World War II influenced nations occupied by foreign forces to change the law to protect this group.”


Sorry I hadn't read the whole thread: I agree the "false colors" sense of perfidy generally is granted due process. I was thinking of the "feigning surrender" sense of perfidy, which is pretty much universally met with summary execution.


How would one know perfidy occurred?

The search term that might help here is “previous judgment, pronounced by a regularly constituted court.”

Also: if one is outside of the protection of IHL/LOAC, might other laws protect him?


This is my fault; I hadn't read the whole thread. There's two acts that constitute perfidy: one is wearing false uniforms or displaying false colors; I agree that isn't usually met with summary execution. The other one is taking back up arms after signalling a surrender. That is absolutely met with summary execution.




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