Why must prisoners of war receive the same legal penalties as members of the detaining country’s armed forces for similar offenses?

Under the third Geneva Convention of 1949, prisoners of war (POWs) are entitled to rights and duties as similar as possible to those of the armed forces of the detaining power. This requirement ensures that prisoners are treated with fairness and consistency, preventing arbitrary or discriminatory punishment.1

Specifically, the convention mandates that prisoners of war must not be sentenced to any penalties other than those that could be inflicted on members of the detaining power’s own armed forces for the same act. By aligning the legal consequences for POWs with those of the detaining state's military personnel, the law upholds the ethical principle of equal justice, ensuring that captives are not subjected to harsher or more capricious disciplinary measures than those applied to the captor's own soldiers for similar offenses. Furthermore, prisoners must be tried by a military court, unless the laws of the detaining power expressly allow its own service members to be tried by a civil court for the same offense.21