Geneva Convention (IV)

 

Art. 113. The Detaining Powers shall provide all reasonable execution
facilities for the transmission, through the Protecting Power or the
Central Agency provided for in Article 140, or as otherwise required, of
wills, powers of Attorney , letters of authority, or any other documents
intended for internees or despatched by them.

In all cases the Detaining Powers shall facilitate the execution and
authentication in due legal form of such documents on behalf of internees,
in particular by allowing them to consult a lawyer.

Art. 114. The Detaining Power shall afford internees all facilities to
enable them to manage their property, provided this is not incompatible
with the conditions of internment and the law which is applicable. For this
purpose, the said Power may give them permission to leave the place of
internment in urgent cases and if circumstances allow.

Art. 115. In all cases where an internee is a party to proceedings in any
court, the Detaining Power shall, if he so requests, cause the court to be
informed of his detention and shall, within legal limits, ensure that all
necessary steps are taken to prevent him from being in any way prejudiced,
by reason of his internment, as regards the preparation and conduct of his
case or as regards the execution of any judgment of the court.

Art.116. Every internee shall be allowed to receive visitors, especially
near relatives, at regular intervals and as frequently as possible.

As far as is possible, internees shall be permitted to visit their homes in
urgent cases, particularly in cases of death or serious illness of
relatives.

CHAPTER IX

Penal and Disciplinary Sanctions

Art. 117. Subject to the provisions of the present Chapter, the laws in
force in the territory in which they are detained will continue to apply to
internees who commit offences during internment.

If general laws, regulations or orders declare acts committed by internees
to be punishable, whereas the same acts are not punishable when committed
by persons who are not internees, such acts shall entail disciplinary
punishments only.

No internee may be punished more than once for the same act, or on the same
count.

Art. 118. The courts or authorities shall in passing sentence take as far
as possible into account the fact that the defendant is not a national of
the Detaining Power. They shall be free to reduce the penalty prescribed
for the offence with which the internee is charged and shall not be
obliged, to this end, to apply the minimum sentence prescribed.

Imprisonment in premises without daylight, and, in general, all forms of
cruelty without exception are forbidden.

Internees who have served disciplinary or judicial sentences shall not be
treated differently from other internees.

The duration of preventive detention undergone by an internee shall be
deducted from any disciplinary or judicial penalty involving confinement to
which he may be sentenced.

Internee Committees shall be informed of all judicial proceedings
instituted against internees whom they represent, and of their result.

Art. 119. The disciplinary punishments applicable to internees shall be the
following:
(1) a fine which shall not exceed 50 per cent of the wages which the
internee would otherwise receive under the provisions of Article 95
during a period of not more than thirty days.
(2) discontinuance of privileges granted over and above the treatment
provided for by the present Convention
(3) fatigue duties, not exceeding two hours daily, in connection with the
maintenance of the place of internment.
(4) confinement.

In no case shall disciplinary penalties be inhuman, brutal or dangerous for
the health of internees. Account shall be taken of the internee’s age, sex
and state of health.

The duration of any single punishment shall in no case exceed a maximum of
thirty consecutive days, even if the internee is answerable for several
breaches of discipline when his case is dealt with, whether such breaches
are connected or not.

Art. 120. Internees who are recaptured after having escaped or when
attempting to escape, shall be liable only to disciplinary punishment in
respect of this act, even if it is a repeated offence.

Article 118, paragraph 3, notwithstanding, internees punished as a result
of escape or attempt to escape, may be subjected to special surveillance,
on condition that such surveillance does not affect the state of their
health, that it is exercised in a place of internment and that it does not
entail the abolition of any of the safeguards granted by the present
Convention.

Internees who aid and abet an escape or attempt to escape, shall be liable
on this count to disciplinary punishment only.

Art. 121. Escape, or attempt to escape, even if it is a repeated offence,
shall not be deemed an aggravating circumstance in cases where an internee
is prosecuted for offences committed during his escape.

The Parties to the conflict shall ensure that the competent authorities
exercise leniency in deciding whether punishment inflicted for an offence
shall be of a disciplinary or judicial nature, especially in respect of
acts committed in connection with an escape, whether successful or not.

Art. 122. Acts which constitute offences against discipline shall be
investigated immediately. This rule shall be applied, in particular, in
cases of escape or attempt to escape. Recaptured internees shall be handed
over to the competent authorities as soon as possible.

In cases of offences against discipline, confinement awaiting trial shall
be reduced to an absolute minimum for all internees, and shall not exceed
fourteen days. Its duration shall in any case be deducted from any sentence
of confinement.

The provisions of Articles 124 and 125 shall apply to internees who are in
confinement awaiting trial for offences against discipline.

Art. 123. Without prejudice to the competence of courts and higher
authorities, disciplinary punishment may be ordered only by the commandant
of the place of internment, or by a responsible officer or official who
replaces him, or to whom he has delegated his disciplinary powers.

Before any disciplinary punishment is awarded, the accused internee shall
be given precise information regarding the offences of which he is accused,
and given an opportunity of explaining his conduct and of defending
himself. He shall be permitted, in particular, to call witnesses and to
have recourse, if necessary, to the services of a qualified interpreter.
The decision shall be announced in the presence of the accused and of a
member of the Internee Committee.

The period elapsing between the time of award of a disciplinary punishment
and its execution shall not exceed one month.

When an internee is awarded a further disciplinary punishment, a period of
at least three days shall elapse between the execution of any two of the
punishments, if the duration of one of these is ten days or more.

A record of disciplinary punishments shall be maintained by the commandant
of the place of internment and shall be open to inspection by
representatives of the Protecting Power.

Art. 124. Internees shall not in any case be transferred to penitentiary
establishments (prisons, penitentiaries, convict prisons, etc.) to undergo
disciplinary punishment therein.

The premises in which disciplinary punishments are undergone shall conform
to sanitary requirements: they shall in particular be provided with
adequate bedding. Internees undergoing punishment shall be enabled to keep
themselves in a state of cleanliness.

Women internees undergoing disciplinary punishment shall be confined in
separate quarters from male internees and shall be under the immediate
supervision of women.

Art. 125. Internees awarded disciplinary punishment shall be allowed to
exercise and to stay in the open air at least two hours daily.

They shall be allowed, if they so request, to be present at the daily
medical inspections. They shall receive the attention which their state of
health requires and, if necessary, shall be removed to the infirmary of the
place of internment or to a hospital.

They shall have permission to read and write, likewise to send and receive
letters. Parcels and remittances of money, however, may be withheld from
them until the completion of their punishment; such consignments shall
meanwhile be entrusted to the Internee Committee, who will hand over to the
infirmary the perishable goods contained in the parcels.

No internee given a disciplinary punishment may be deprived of the benefit
of the provisions of Articles 107 and 143 of the present Convention.

Art. 126. The provisions of Articles 71 to 76 inclusive shall apply, by
analogy, to proceedings against internees who are in the national territory
of the Detaining Power.

 

 

Author: international