Why are war crimes prison times so short?

[DiscordandRhyme]

I know we are bombarded with war posts right now but this isn't at all specific to current events.

In fact, I was looking up about the Vietnam War yesterday and about the soldiers that were prosecuted for crimes against civilians.

Most were stupidly lax - 5 years for brutal s assault and murder?

I can completely understand killing a civilian by accident (hitting them instead of an enemy for example) may get a bit of a reprieve but why do they get such stupidly low prison time?

Some have even been pardoned - makes no sense to me.

Things changed a lot in 2002, when ICC was founded, and sentences for war crimes are death or lengthy improsinment.

Even with war crimes, there are different degrees of offence. Not all atrocities of war are deemed war crimes, and it tends to be the policy makers and the more senior commanders who gave the orders who are prosecuted at ICC. Not every junior soldier who carried out the rape or murder, even if those were part of a genocide. There must have been hundreds in the warring factions in the former Yugoslavia who carried ot dreadful acts, but it was the leaders who went before ICC.

Whethera powerful country like America would let its military personnel favce an international court is yet to be seen.

Whethera powerful country like America would let its military personnel favce an international court is yet to be seen.

They won't and have placed sanctions against the ICC when they've tried to investigate in Afghanistan, for instance.

But if the junior officers acted on their own volition to rape / murder etc surely it's they whom should be punished most severely?

Glad the CC has made changes though as it was depressing reading.