I think we might be talking past each other. I was using punishment as synonymous with consequence , my bad. Still against the death sentence thou.

Oh I agree with you that it shouldn’t be considered a valid form of punishment. For a plethora of reasons yours being one of them. Only reason I brought it up, was because I honestly don’t know how the Geneva convention and all the other international laws regarding war and war crimes view, what is effectively the same action, eg murder but after a organised deliberation by a court rather than “in the field” my guess is it would depend on were the war crimminal is prosecuted.

I think that the nuance lost here is, dropping someone from a height to kill them, implies they are in your captivity. Thus no longer active combatants, and protected and killing them in that fashion a war crime in of it self. I am how ever unsure if sentencing them to death in a criminal court, would be considered a war crime. As with Sadam.