Ways of committing cruel treatment of prisoners of war and civilian population

It is indicated that cruel treatment of prisoners of war and civilians is a war crime and a gross violation of legal norms within the limits of both domestic and international legislation. At the same time, among the criminal offenses committed by the Rashists in the occupied territories, such acts are the most massive and cause the most victims. In the article, based on the analysis of empirical and scientific sources, the methods of committing cruel treatment of prisoners of war and civilian population are established and researched. It is emphasized that forensic characterization of a crime is an important component of investigation methodology, and a method of commission, as a key element of forensic characterization, reveals close correlations with its other components. Thus, the methods and features of the actions of racist war criminals were largely determined by the situation of the military conflict: after the first defeats at the front, the actions of the Russian military took on a particularly brutal and mass character. Depending on the motivation of criminal’s actions, the following methods of cruel treatment of prisoners of war and civilian population were found: use of physical and/or psychological violence during the illegal seizure of victims’ property; torture and torture during interrogations and searches; actions aimed at suppressing the resistance of the local population; murders for the purpose of concealing traces of other crimes; sexual violence; illegal deprivation of liberty. It was established that the cruel treatment of prisoners of war and civilian population can be manifested both in actions (torture, physical, sexual, psychological violence, etc.) and inaction (failure to provide adequate conditions of detention, failure to provide necessary medical care, lack of access to food, drinking water and toilet, etc.). It was concluded that the method of committing and the level of brutality of the crimes was determined by the subject composition of the russian military units, in particular, the most aggressively and cruelly behaved military personnel - natives of the North Caucasus, Far Eastern and Siberian regions of russia.