Germany
Practice Relating to Rule 65. Perfidy
Germany’s Soldiers’ Manual (1991) defines perfidious acts as those “by which the adversary is induced to believe that there is a situation affording protection under public international law, so that he may be attacked by surprise”.
Germany’s Military Manual (1992) provides: “Perfidy is prohibited. The term ‘perfidy’ refers to acts misleading the adverse party to believe that there is a situation affording protection under international law.”
Germany’s Soldiers’ Manual (2006) states that perfidious acts are those “by which the adversary is induced to believe that there is a situation affording protection under public international law, so that he may be attacked by surprise”.
In 2010, in the
Chechen Refugee case, Germany’s Federal Administrative Court was called upon to decide whether a Russian refugee claimant from Chechnya had to be excluded from refugee protection because there were serious reasons for considering that he had committed a war crime in Chechnya in 2002 by killing two Russian soldiers and taking a Russian officer hostage. The Court stated: “In some cases, unlawful perfidy and lawful ruses of war are difficult to distinguish”.