• Saleh@feddit.org
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    5 days ago

    Obviously the trap was detonated, when he was within the detonation range. So it functioned when he approached it. The definition does not say that it has to function triggered by his approach. The triggering is entirely irrelevant.

    • Skua@kbin.earth
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      5 days ago

      Under your interpretation, a soldier hiding in a bush with a grenade is a booby trap. There is no way you can seriously believe that that includes something manually triggered. The entire point of banning booby traps is that they are by their nature indiscriminate, which a monitored and manually triggered weapon obviously is not

      • Saleh@feddit.org
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        5 days ago

        A soldier hiding in a bush is a combatant. The grenade in his hand is a weapon. It is easily discernible as such both by other soldiers and by civilians. And both soldiers and civilians will expect a grenade to explode when it is thrown at them, or at least they understand the risk of a grenade potentially exploding, if it is laying around. So they expect it to be explosive.

        Lets go through the definition word for word again:

        “Booby-trap” means any device or material which is designed, constructed, or adapted to kill or injure, and which functions unexpectedly when a person disturbs or approaches an apparently harmless object or performs an apparently safe act.

        any device

        A soldier is not a device, a grenade is, a scooter is

        or material

        A soldier is not a material, a grenade is not a material, but made from some, same for a scooter

        which is designed, constructed, or adapted

        A soldier is not designed, a grenade is and this specific scooter was

        to kill or injure

        all three kill or injure

        and which functions

        all three function

        unexpectedly

        A soldier is expected to be a danger, so is a grenade, a scooter is not

        when

        https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/when
        at what time; at the time at which:

        a person

        the guy assassinated is a person. It does not say civilian or combatant. Any human being counts

        disturbs or approaches

        he moved into the explosion range, so he approached

        an apparently harmless object

        a soldier is not a harmless object. a grenade is not a harmless object. A scooter normally and by the expectation of normal circumstances is a harmless object

        or performs an apparently safe act

        this means an interaction with the device itself that should be safe. E.g. if you set fire to a gas bottle as a civilian you cannot expect it not to explode

        Nowhere does it say that the device or material needs to have any sort of automation. Nowhere does it say, that a remote trigger is excepted. Nowhere does it say, that it must be targeting combatants or civilians, both go equally.