What is a prisoner of war?

You can best describe a POW as follows:

warrior
in international armed conflict
fallen into the hands of opponent
can no longer participate in hostilities as a result

This is also how it is defined in international humanitarian law(IHL). The person in question may have been captured or it is also possible that he has surrendered.

By the way, the choice of the word "combatant" is not accidental: it does not refer only to soldiers or other official army units. For example, combatants can also belong to militias or volunteer corps, although they must belong to one of the conflicting parties as well as meet certain conditions.

What rights does a prisoner of war have?

The rights of prisoners of war are described in great detail in the Third Geneva Convention of 1949. Like the First, Second and Fourth Conventions, it was signed by 196 countries, including Ukraine and Russia.

First, capturing and holding prisoners of war is not a form of punishment. The sole purpose of prisoner of war is to keep the combatant from further participating in the armed conflict. In other words, prisoners of war may not be prosecuted by the party holding them, unless war crimes or other (inter)national crimes are alleged. So for merely participating in the armed conflict, they cannot be prosecuted under IHL.

In addition, conflict parties are obliged to treat prisoners of war humanely and provide them with basic necessities. Thus, they must provide captured combatants with food, water, clothing, shelter and medical care. Thus, all acts of violence, including beatings and torture, as well as intimidation, are absolutely prohibited. Moreover, prisoners must be able to communicate - directly or indirectly - with the home front, and families must be able to stay in touch.

Finally, it is also not permissible to publicly distribute images or videos of identifiable POWs for the purpose of satisfying public curiosity. A commonly used argument here is that such images circulating in the media may serve as evidence that the prisoners are still alive. But IHL provides other methods for this purpose, including visits by the International Committee of the Red Cross, which records prisoners of war. Indeed, they are mandated by the Third Geneva Convention to visit all locations where prisoners of war are held. On the one hand, to ensure their humane treatment and conditions and, on the other, to re-establish contact with their families.

What about release or exchange?

Thus, since POW is not a punishment, captured combatants should be released as soon as possible when the armed conflict ends. Although, again, criminal prosecution for alleged war crimes or other (inter)national crimes is the exception. Upon release, repatriation should immediately follow, which for certain prisoners of war, however, should happen even before the end of the conflict - for example, in case of serious illness or serious injuries.

Suppose a POW were to die anyway before such repatriation could take place, IHL provides that the remains must be returned, at the request of the opposing party. The International Committee of the Red Cross can also act as a neutral mediator in such repatriation operations. In 2021, for example, this happened in Azerbaijan, in the context of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

Thus, while the rules surrounding the release and repatriation of POWs after an armed conflict are closely defined by IHL, the Geneva Conventions say nothing about any exchanges during that conflict. In practice, however, this is common practice, where again International Committee of the Red Cross as a neutral mediator can facilitate the exchange of POWs. Although this will only concern the practical organization of repatriation, not the negotiations. This is something the parties to the conflict have to negotiate among themselves, including agreements on the persons to be exchanged, the time and the modalities. The International Committee of the Red Cross has already been involved on several occasions in the exchange of prisoners of war, for example in the Yemen conflict in 2020.