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Why was Kurt Meyer convicted of war crimes for the Normandy Massacres?

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Wehrmacht German soldiers fighting in the Soviet Union as part of Operation Barbarossa, 1941.

Kurt Meyer was convicted of war crimes following the Normandy Massacres because he was found guilty of inciting his troops to execute Canadian prisoners of war during the Normandy Invasion in June 1944.1

As a commander in the 12th SS Panzer Division, Meyer established his headquarters at the Abbaye d’Ardenne, where Canadian soldiers captured near the village of Authie were held. Evidence presented during his 1945 court-martial established that these prisoners were taken into the abbey's garden and shot. While military investigators initially recommended that five officers be tried for failing to prevent crimes against prisoners, Meyer was the only one put on trial by Canada for the murders.1

The execution of prisoners of war is a grave violation of international law and the fundamental principles of humanity. Meyer was sentenced to death, though this was later commuted to life imprisonment, and he was eventually released in 1954.1