Russia: Geneva Convention flouted in Gaddafi death

This still image taken from amateur video posted on a social media website and obtained by Reuters, October 21, 2011, shows former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, covered in blood, after his capture by NTC fighters in Sirte.

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia believes that Muammar Gaddafi should have been treated as a prisoner of war according to the Geneva Conventions and should not have been killed, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Friday, calling for an investigation into his death.

"We have to lean on facts and international laws. They say that in a course of armed conflicts international humanitarian rules written in Geneva conventions are enforced," Lavrov said in a radio interview.

Gaddafi died in unclear but bloody circumstances shortly after the fugitive former strongman was captured by transitional government forces on Thursday, two months after he was driven from power in a civil war.

"They say that a captured participant of an armed conflict should be treated in a certain way. And in any case, the prisoner of war should not be killed," Lavrov said.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said on Thursday he hoped the end of the hunt for Gaddafi would lead to peace and democratic government in Libya.

(Reporting by Gleb Bryanski; Editing by Mark Heinrich)