The conflict in Chechnya falls within the meaning of Common Article 3 of the four Geneva Conventions of August 12, 1949 and of Protocol II Additional to these Conventions.

The indiscriminate attacks by Russian military forces against the civilian population and civilian objects, including air and artillery bombardments, resulted in violations of the Fourth Geneva Convention on the Treatment of Civilian populations. It also constitutes a violation of Protocol II.

The policies of the Russian government and its armed forces, as well as the manner in which the indiscriminate use of force against protected objects, constitute war crimes, for which the Russian government leadership and the military leadership who participated in the making and carrying out of these policies are responsible. Individual combatants such as pilots and artillery officers who carried out orders to indiscriminately kill civilians and destroy protected objects are also individually responsible for the commission of war crimes if the targets appeared to be unlawful.

It is totally irrelevant to the application of the Geneva Conventions and to the laws and customs of war that some of the actions of Chechen insurgents are characterized as "terrorist." There is simply no justification for the commission of deliberate and intentional violations of Common Article 3, Protocol II, and the laws and customs of war.

It is also significant to point out that international humanitarian law prohibits reprisals against the civilian population and civilian objects.

M. Cherif Bassiouni is a professor of law and director of the International Criminal Justice and Weapons Control Center at DePaul University in Chicago. He chaired the UN Commission of Experts on the former Yugoslavia, and is the author of Crimes Against Humanity in International Criminal Law (Martinus Nijhoff, 1998).