Court-martial


A court-martial is a military court or a trial conducted in such a court. A court-martial is empowered to determine the guilt of members of the armed forces subject to military law, and, if the defendant is found guilty, to decide upon punishment. In addition, courts-martial may be used to try prisoners of war for war crimes. The Geneva Conventions require that POWs who are on trial for war crimes be subject to the same procedures as would be the holding military's own forces. Finally, courts-martial can be convened for other purposes, such as dealing with violations of martial law, and can involve civilian defendants.
Most navies have a standard court-martial which convenes whenever a ship is lost; this does not presume that the captain is suspected of wrongdoing, but merely that the circumstances surrounding the loss of the ship be made part of the official record. Most military forces maintain a judicial system that tries defendants for breaches of military discipline. Some countries like France have no courts-martial in times of peace and use civilian courts instead.

Hyphenation

Court-martial is hyphenated in US usage, whether used as a noun or verb. However, in British usage, a hyphen is used to distinguish between the noun, "court martial", and the verb, "to court-martial".

Composition

Usually, a court-martial takes the form of a trial with a presiding judge, a prosecutor and a defense attorney. The precise format varies from one country to another and may also depend on the severity of the accusation.

Jurisdiction

Courts-martial have the authority to try a wide range of military offences, many of which closely resemble civilian crimes like fraud, theft or perjury. Others, like cowardice, desertion, and insubordination, are purely military crimes. For members of the British Armed Forces, offences are defined in the Armed Forces Act 2006. Regulations for the Canadian Forces are found in the Queen's Regulations and Orders as well as the National Defence Act. For members of the United States Armed Forces offenses are covered under the Uniform Code of Military Justice. These offences, as well as their corresponding punishments and instructions on how to conduct a court-martial, are explained in detail based on each country and/or service.

By country

Canada

In Canada, there is a two-tier military trial system. Summary trials are presided over by superior officers, while more significant matters are heard by courts martial, which are presided over by independent military judges serving under the independent Office of the Chief Military Judge. Appeals are heard by the Court Martial Appeal Court of Canada. Capital punishment in Canada was abolished generally in 1976, and for military offences in 1998. Harold Pringle was the last Canadian soldier executed pursuant to a court martial, in 1945, having been convicted of murder.

China

The Military Court of the Chinese People's Liberation Army is the highest level military court established by the People's Republic of China within the Chinese People's Liberation Army with jurisdiction over the nation's armed forces, organized as a unit under the dual leadership of the Supreme People's Court and the Political and Legal Committee of the Central Military Commission.

Finland

In Finland, the military has jurisdiction over two types of crimes: those that can be committed only by military personnel and those normal crimes by military persons where both the defendant and the victim are military persons or organizations and the crime has been defined in law as falling under military jurisdiction. The former category includes military offences such as various types of disobedience and absence without leave, while the latter category includes civilian crimes such as murder, assault, theft, fraud and forgery. However, war crimes and sexual crimes are not under military jurisdiction.
In crimes where the military has jurisdiction, the military conducts the investigation. In non-trivial cases, this is done by the investigative section of Defence Command or by civilian police, but trivial cases are investigated by the defendant's own unit. The civilian police has always the right to take the case from the military.
If the case does not warrant a punishment greater than a fine or a disciplinary punishment, the punishment is given summarily by the company, battalion or brigade commander, depending on severity of the crime. If the brigade commander feels that the crime warrants a punishment more severe than he can give, he refers the case to the local district attorney who commences prosecution.
The crimes with military jurisdiction are handled by the civilian district court which has a special composition. In military cases, the court consists of a civilian legally trained judge and two military members: an officer and a warrant officer, an NCO or a private soldier. The verdict and the sentence are decided by a majority of votes. However, the court cannot give a more severe sentence than the learned member supports. The appeals can be made as in civilian trials. If a court of appeals handles a military matter, it will have an officer member with at least a major's rank. The Supreme Court of Finland has, in military cases, two general officers as members.
Courts-martial proper are instituted only during a war, by decree of the government. Such courts-martial have jurisdiction over all crimes committed by military persons. In addition, they may handle criminal cases against civilians in areas where ordinary courts have ceased operation, if the matter is urgent. Such courts-martial have a learned judge as a president and two military members: an officer and an NCO, warrant officer or a private soldier. The verdicts of a war-time court-martial can be appealed to a court of appeals.

Germany

The Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany establishes in Art. 96 para. 2 that courts-martial can be established by federal law. Such courts-martial would take action in a state of defence or against soldiers abroad or at sea.

Greece

The existence of military courts, naval courts and air courts is provided for in the Constitution of Greece, which in article 96 paragraph 4 states that:
The first chapter of the procedural part of the Military Penal Code regulates the matters related to the courts and judicial persons that make up the Military Justice. Specifically in article 167 of the MPC, it is defined that criminal justice in the Army is awarded by the military courts and the Supreme Court.

India

There are four kinds of courts-martial in India. These are the General Court Martial, District Court Martial, Summary General Court Martial and Summary Court Martial. According to the Army Act, army courts can try personnel for all kinds of offenses, except for murder and rape of a civilian, which are primarily tried by a civilian court of law.
The President of India can use the judicial power under Article 72 of the constitution to pardon, reprieve, respite or remission of punishment or sentence given by a court martial.

Indonesia

In Indonesia, any criminal offense conducted by military personnel will be held in trial by military court. There are four levels of military jurisdiction:
  • Military Court, composed of one major as presiding judge, two captains as judge, one captain as military prosecuting attorney, and one second lieutenant as clerk of court.
  • High Military Court, composed of one lieutenant colonel as presiding judge, two majors as judge, one major as military prosecuting attorney, and one captain as clerk of court.
  • Supreme Military Court, composed of one colonel as presiding judge, two lieutenant colonels as judge, one lieutenant colonel as military prosecuting attorney, and one major as clerk of court.
  • Warzone Military Court, composed of one colonel as presiding judge, two lieutenant colonels as judge, one lieutenant colonel as military prosecuting attorney, and one major as clerk of court. This level of military court only applies during wartime.
The judges will receive temporary rank the same as the defendant if the rank of the defendant is higher than the judges.

Ireland

Courts martial are provided for in the Constitution of Ireland, which states in Article 38.4.1 that:
"Military tribunals may be established for the trial of offences against military law alleged to have been committed by persons while subject to military law and also to deal with a state of war or armed rebellion."
There are three classes of courts martial in the Irish Defence Forces:
  • The Summary Court-Martial is tried by a Military Judge sitting alone. Sentences are limited to six months imprisonment.
  • The Limited Court-Martial is tried by a Military Judge and a board of three members of the Defence Forces. Sentences are limited to two years imprisonment.
  • The General Court-Martial is tried by a Military Judge and a board of five members of the Defence Forces. The GCM has no sentencing limit. Officers of Lieutenant-Colonel rank and higher can only be tried by a GCM.

    Israel

Outside of the Israeli settlements, the West Bank remains under direct Israeli military rule, and under the jurisdiction of martial law in the form of military courts. The international community maintains that Israel does not have sovereignty in the West Bank, and considers Israel's control of the area to be the longest military occupation in modern history.
The military court system for the occupied territories, modeled partially on the British military court system set up in 1937, was established in 1967.
Sociology professor Lisa Hajjar argues that Israeli military courts criminalize not only Palestinian violence, but also certain forms of expression deemed to threaten Israeli security. She states the incarceration rate of Palestinians is high compared to other states, and that Palestinians in the West Bank are being treated as "foreign civilians".