

The four mercenaries sentenced to death were shot by a firing squad on 10 July 1976. The best known post-World War II example of this was on 28 June 1976 when, at the end of the Luanda Trial, an Angolan court sentenced three Britons and an American to death and nine other mercenaries to prison terms ranging from 16 to 30 years. As mercenary soldiers may not qualify as PoWs, they cannot expect repatriation at war's end. If, after a regular trial, a captured soldier is found to be a mercenary, then he can expect treatment as a common criminal and may face execution. The only possible exception to GC IV Art 5 is when he is a national of the authority imprisoning him, in which case he would not be a mercenary soldier as defined in APGC77 Art 47.d. At that juncture, the mercenary soldier becomes an unlawful combatant but still must be "treated with humanity and, in case of trial, shall not be deprived of the rights of fair and regular trial", being still covered by GC IV Art 5. That tribunal, using criteria in APGC77 or some equivalent domestic law, may decide that the soldier is a mercenary. (f) has not been sent by a State which is not a Party to the conflict on official duty as a member of its armed forces.Īll the criteria (a–f) must be met, according to the Geneva Convention, for a combatant to be described as a mercenary.Īccording to the GC III, a captured soldier must be treated as a lawful combatant and, therefore, as a protected person with prisoner-of-war status until facing a competent tribunal (GC III Art 5).(e) is not a member of the armed forces of a Party to the conflict and.(d) is neither a national of a Party to the conflict nor a resident of territory controlled by a Party to the conflict.


Mercenaries fight for money or other forms of payment rather than for political interests. Condottiero meant "leader of mercenaries" in Italy during the Late Middle Ages and the Renaissance.Ī mercenary, sometimes known as a soldier of fortune or hired gun, is a private individual, particularly a soldier, who takes part in military conflict for personal profit, is otherwise an outsider to the conflict, and is not a member of any other official military. Leonardo da Vinci's Profilo di capitano antico, also known as il Condottiero, 1480.
