The “Shoot on the Spot” Declaration (Finnish: Ammutaan paikalla -julistus) was a statement issued by Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim, military leader of the Whites, on 25 February 1918, in the early stages of the Finnish Civil War. The Declaration was adopted as a rule of engagement of the White troops. Among other things, it directed the troops about the treatment of prisoners, and gave commanders of units wide powers to carry out executions at their sole discretion.
Already at its inception, its legality was highly questionable, because a death sentence for treason was not legal unless a state of war was declared. The senate (the government of the Whites) did not want to do this, because the only applicable law would have been the hated Czarist Russian martial law, which would also transfer powers to the army. They preferred to consider the Reds as "armed civilians". The army favored a declaration of war, in order to treat the prisoners as civilians, wherein execution for treason would become legal. A compromise was reached: the motivation was that an extrajudicial execution of a "saboteur caught red-handed" or "quarter at discretion" was a justifiable homicide committed in defense of life or property. In practice, battlefield commanders decided which Red prisoners would be released, detained or considered dangerous and summarily executed. For example, known "murderers" or "arsonists" were shot at the sole discretion of the commander. Due to this policy, it can be difficult to distinguish whether deaths "in battle" actually occurred in combat or as summary executions after the fact.
The mass execution known as "lottery of Huruslahti", an alleged decimation, was the defining moment. After this event, summary executions became common. Military tribunals were initially established, but generally interrogators could freely decide on the fate of the prisoners. On 25 February 1918, Mannerheim promulgated a decree to dismiss these tribunals. However, this had little effect because the battlefield commanders exercised their discretion largely independently far into the spring. Summary executions continued throughout 1918 even after the conclusion of the war, particularly in prison camps.
As Russian troops fought on the Red side, the Whites assumed that any Russians captured would be hostile and stoked ethnic hatred. Thus, any sort of Russians captured along with the Reds, civilian or military, were typically summarily executed. This included for example 200 Russian civilians in the aftermath of the Battle of Viipuri and even one White officer of Polish origin in the Battle of Tampere.
Regardless of its legality, the legality and possible guilt became a moot point after amnesty laws were passed after the war.
Referencesedit
This Finland-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.
Finnish Wikisource has original text related to this article:
Shoot on the Spot Declaration
Shoot on the Spot Declaration (in Finnish)
January 01, 1970
shoot, spot, declaration, this, article, multiple, issues, please, help, improve, discuss, these, issues, talk, page, learn, when, remove, these, template, messages, this, article, includes, list, references, related, reading, external, links, sources, remain,. This article has multiple issues Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page Learn how and when to remove these template messages This article includes a list of references related reading or external links but its sources remain unclear because it lacks inline citations Please help improve this article by introducing more precise citations January 2020 Learn how and when to remove this message This article relies excessively on references to primary sources Please improve this article by adding secondary or tertiary sources Find sources Shoot on the Spot Declaration news newspapers books scholar JSTOR September 2023 Learn how and when to remove this message This article or section possibly contains synthesis of material which does not verifiably mention or relate to the main topic Relevant discussion may be found on the talk page September 2023 Learn how and when to remove this message Learn how and when to remove this message The Shoot on the Spot Declaration Finnish Ammutaan paikalla julistus was a statement issued by Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim military leader of the Whites on 25 February 1918 in the early stages of the Finnish Civil War The Declaration was adopted as a rule of engagement of the White troops Among other things it directed the troops about the treatment of prisoners and gave commanders of units wide powers to carry out executions at their sole discretion Already at its inception its legality was highly questionable because a death sentence for treason was not legal unless a state of war was declared The senate the government of the Whites did not want to do this because the only applicable law would have been the hated Czarist Russian martial law which would also transfer powers to the army They preferred to consider the Reds as armed civilians The army favored a declaration of war in order to treat the prisoners as civilians wherein execution for treason would become legal A compromise was reached the motivation was that an extrajudicial execution of a saboteur caught red handed or quarter at discretion was a justifiable homicide committed in defense of life or property In practice battlefield commanders decided which Red prisoners would be released detained or considered dangerous and summarily executed For example known murderers or arsonists were shot at the sole discretion of the commander Due to this policy it can be difficult to distinguish whether deaths in battle actually occurred in combat or as summary executions after the fact The mass execution known as lottery of Huruslahti an alleged decimation was the defining moment After this event summary executions became common Military tribunals were initially established but generally interrogators could freely decide on the fate of the prisoners On 25 February 1918 Mannerheim promulgated a decree to dismiss these tribunals However this had little effect because the battlefield commanders exercised their discretion largely independently far into the spring Summary executions continued throughout 1918 even after the conclusion of the war particularly in prison camps As Russian troops fought on the Red side the Whites assumed that any Russians captured would be hostile and stoked ethnic hatred Thus any sort of Russians captured along with the Reds civilian or military were typically summarily executed This included for example 200 Russian civilians in the aftermath of the Battle of Viipuri and even one White officer of Polish origin in the Battle of Tampere Regardless of its legality the legality and possible guilt became a moot point after amnesty laws were passed after the war References edit nbsp This Finland related article is a stub You can help Wikipedia by expanding it vteExternal links edit nbsp Finnish Wikisource has original text related to this article Shoot on the Spot Declaration Shoot on the Spot Declaration in Finnish Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Shoot on the Spot Declaration amp oldid 1212433156, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
