Soldiers protected by law but could be there awhile: 4/2/99

      Soldiers protected by law but could be there awhile

      By Laurie Asseo, Associated Press writer

       WASHINGTON -- As prisoners of war, the three U.S. soldiers captured by

      Yugoslav forces are protected by international law, but they also could be

      held by the Serbs legally until the armed conflict ends.

       Treatment of prisoners of war is governed by the Geneva convention of

      1949, signed by both the United States and Yugoslavia. Among other things,

      the treaty says the only information captured soldiers must provide is

      name, rank, serial number and date of birth.

       "POW status is what is required under the circumstances," said Robert K.

      Goldman, an American University law professor. "If these people are

      mistreated, those who order the mistreatment and carry it out ... could be

      treated as war criminals."

       Ruth Wedgwood, a senior fellow for the Council on Foreign Relations, said

      Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic "is a damn fool if he mistreats

      them."

      President Clinton and Defense Secretary William Cohen initially avoided

      referring to the three men as war prisoners, instead saying that they were

      illegally abducted.

       Later yesterday, however, Pentagon spokesman Kenneth Bacon said, "We

      consider them to be prisoners of war and covered by the Geneva

      Convention."

       The Pentagon was investigating the possibility that the soldiers had

      blundered across the Macedonian border into Yugoslavia.

       The 1949 Geneva convention is one of a series of international

      humanitarian treaties dating back to 1864. It applies in cases of "armed

      conflict" as well as when war has been declared.

       Under the treaty, captured soldiers "must at all times be humanely

      treated." They cannot be mutilated, used as human shields or subjected to

      public humiliation. They also cannot be put on trial for engaging in

      ordinary acts of warfare for which the capturing country's own soldiers

      would not be charged.

       Prisoners of war also can be held until the end of hostilities. However,

      Bacon told reporters the three soldiers still might be entitled to

      immediate release, for example, if they were captured in Macedonia.

       Charlotte Ku of the American Society of International Law said there was

      little doubt the U.S. soldiers would be entitled to prisoner of war status

      and therefore to the Geneva convention's protections.

       Yugoslav Deputy Prime Minister Vuk Draskovic told the BBC the U.S.

      soldiers would be treated in compliance with the Geneva convention. But

      Yugoslavia also said the soldiers would face criminal trial before a

      military court today.

       If the United States had continued to assert that the men were captured

      illegally, their level of protection under international law would have

      been murkier. Some international law experts said an argument could be

      made for protection under customary international law.

       But Wedgwood said that outside of the Geneva convention, "You don't have

      a comfortable text to point to."