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The Military Courts Act

Original Language Title: Ley de los Tribunales Militares

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Law of the Military Courts



Document: Law of the Military Courts
Type of document: Law
Date of issue: 08/08/1977
Number of Legal Instrument: Act NÂș3
Broadcaster: National Assembly of People's Power
Date of entry to the repository: 16/05/2016
Source: Official Gazette 30 of 9 August 1977
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BLAS ROCA CALDERIO , President of the National Assembly of the People's Power of the Republic of Cuba.

I DO KNOW : That in session of the National Assembly of People's Power, held from 12 to 14 July 1977, corresponding to the first regular session, the following was approved:

AS REGARDS : The changes in the organization of the Central State Administration, as part of the process of institutionalization of our socialist state, as well as the dynamic development and improvement of the Revolutionary Armed Forces, They make it essential to make important changes in the structure and organization of the Military Courts and to normalize the functions that correspond to the Ministry of Justice.

AS REGARDS : In addition to what was stated in the "For The Previous" period, several norms of organization of the Military Courts have to be agreed with the modifications required by the Law of the Organization of the Judicial System.

AS REGARDS : In view of the need to introduce numerous modifications to the current Law number 1309, of 21 August 1976, Law of the Military Courts, it is considered convenient, in order to facilitate their better understanding, to make a new law in which they remain harmonically incorporated such modifications.

FOR TANK : The National Assembly of People's Power agrees:

ACT NO. 3

LAW OF THE MILITARY COURTS

CHAPTER I

GENERAL

ARTICLE 1. The Military Courts are part of the country's unique Judicial System and are governed by the provisions of this Law.

ARTICLE 2.-The Judges of the Military Courts when they perform their judicial functions are independent and must not obey more than the law.

ARTICLE 3.-All Military Courts operate in a collegiate manner, composed of professional judges and legal judges, who participate in the activity of imparting justice with equal duties and rights.

Article 4.-The Military Courts in the exercise of their functions are called to fight against any act that affects or could affect the security of the State, the capacity and disposition, the combative of the Revolutionary Armed Forces, the discipline military, the regulatory order established for the enforcement of military service and other violations of criminal law. It is up to the Military Courts to contribute to the reinforcement of socialist legality and to the education of the military in strict compliance with the laws, regulations, provisions and military orders.

CHAPTER II

OF THE MILITARY COURTS

SECTION FIRST

GENERAL PROVISIONS

ARTICLE 5.-The judicial function in the Revolutionary Armed Forces of the People's Revolutionary Armed Forces is exercised on its behalf by:

1) the Military Chamber of the Supreme People's Court;

2) the Territorial Military Courts;

3) the Military Courts of Guarnitions. In a war situation or in other necessary cases, the Military Courts of the Armed Forces and of Great Units, which must have the jurisdiction of the Military and Territorial Courts, according to proceed.

ARTICLE 6.-The Military and Territorial Military Courts are subordinate, in the military and administrative order, to the Chief of the Military Courts Directorate of the Ministry of Justice.

ARTICLE 7.-The Military Courts, for the acts of justice, are integrated without taking into account the military level of the accused.

ARTICLE 8.-The Military and Territorial Military Courts exercise their jurisdiction within the limits of their demarcation and with respect to all units within it, regardless of their subordination. However, they are aware of criminal acts that have occurred outside their demarcation when educational reasons give advice or when this can facilitate the practice of the tests.

Article 9. The demarcation of the Military Courts is determined by the General Staff of the Revolutionary Armed Forces.

ARTICLE 10.-The Military Courts can claim, for their first instance, any cause of the jurisdiction of a lower Military Court.

ARTICLE 11.-The General Staff of the Revolutionary Armed Forces determines:

  1. the structure and establishment of the Military Courts Directorate of the Ministry of Justice;
  2. the number, structure and establishment of the Military Courts;
  3. the number of legal judges to be elected to the Military Courts.

ARTICLE 12.-The Senior Officers, First Officers, Deputy Officers, Sub-Officers, Sergeant and Soldiers belonging to the Military Courts Directorate of the Ministry of Justice, to the Military Chamber of the Supreme People's Court, and the Territorial Courts and Guarnitions, belong to the active military service, forming part of the members of the Revolutionary Armed Forces, and are subject to the laws, regulations and other provisions that regulate compliance of the military service. The transfer to the reserve and the retirement of the military of the aforementioned organs is determined by the General Staff in accordance with the rules established in the Revolutionary Armed Forces and in this Law.

SECTION 2

FROM THE MILITARY ROOM OF THE SUPREME PEOPLE ' S COURT

ARTICLE 13.-The Military Chamber of the Supreme People's Court exercises judicial inspection in accordance with the law of the Military Criminal Procedure.

Article 14. It is for the Military Chamber of the Supreme People's Court to know:

  1. in the first instance, the criminal proceedings initiated against the persons who are then expressed:
  2. a) Deputy Ministers of the Revolutionary Armed Forces;
  3. b) Heads of the Great Units, Substitute of the Chiefs of Armies of Armies, equivalent and superior charges;
  4. (c) Heads of Directorates and their Substitutes and Heads of Independent Sections of the Ministry of the Revolutionary Armed Forces;
  5. (ch) Deputy Minister of the Interior Ministry;
  6. (d) Heads and Second Provincial Heads, Directors-General, Directors and Heads of Independent Departments of the Ministry of the Interior;
  7. of appeals and challenges brought against the judgments and decisions of the Territorial Military Courts. Where a death penalty or a maximum of deprivation of liberty is imposed in the judgment, the action is considered to be brought and admitted to its own office;
  8. by means of the judicial inspection procedure, of the challenges established against the judgments and final decisions given by the Territorial Military Courts;
  9. of the review procedure against judgments and final decisions issued by the Territorial Military Courts.

SECTION III

OF THE TERRITORIAL MILITARY TRIBUNALS

Article 15.-It is for the Territorial Military Courts to know:

  1. in the first instance, of the crimes committed by the military occupying the positions of Chiefs of Regiment, Substitute of the Chiefs of the Great Units, except the Substitute of the Chiefs of the Corps of Armies and their equivalents, and of the crimes committed by the military for which the law establishes a penalty of death in time of peace;
  2. of appeals and challenges brought against the judgments and decisions given by the Military Courts of Guarnitions;
  3. the procedure for the review of judgments and final decisions given in the first instance by the Military Courts of Guarantions;
  4. by means of the judicial inspection procedure, of the challenges laid down against judgments and decisions given by the Military Courts of Guarniations which have been established for not having been the subject of an appeal and provided that no review procedure has been promoted against such firm judgments.

ARTICLE 16.-The Territorial Military Courts, when they know in the first instance of a cause, are integrated with a professional judge and two legal judges; when they know of resources or challenges, they are integrated with three professional judges and two Legal judges.

Article 17. The following are the responsibility of the Presidents of the Territorial Military Courts, in addition to their judicial functions:

  1. exercise the immediate address of the Court of Justice;
  2. exercise control of the statistics of the subordinate Military Courts and carry out the consolidation of their data;
  3. ensure the strictest compliance with existing legal standards and inform their hierarchical superiors of any transgression that is detected during the processing of criminal proceedings, taking the measures at their disposal to restore the legal order;
  4. transfer to the lower courts the instructions of the Head of the Directorate of Military Courts on the organisation of work;
  5. inform the Head of the Directorate of Military Courts on the state of the judicial proceedings in proceedings in the presiding court and in the subordinate courts;
  6. to monitor compliance with the plan relating to the order in which the legal judges of the Military Courts who are subordinate to them are to perform their duties;
  7. to complete all orders and provisions emanating from superiority.

SECTION 4

OF THE MILITARY TRIBUNALS OF GARRISONS

Article 18.-It is up to the Military Courts of Guarantions to know in the first instance of the crimes committed by the military, provided that, for the reason of the positions they occupy, the competition is not attributed to the Military Hall of the The Supreme People's Court or the Territorial Military Courts.

Article 19. For the acts of justice, the Military Courts of Guarnitions are integrated with a professional judge and two legal judges.

Article 20.-Corresponds to the Presidents of Military Courts of Guarnitions, in addition to their judicial functions, the following:

  1. exercise the immediate address of the Court of Justice;
  2. make the statistics of the Court which preside and transmit it in a timely manner to the higher command;
  3. ensure the strictest compliance with existing legal standards and inform their hierarchical superiors of any transgression that is detected during the processing of criminal proceedings, taking the measures at their disposal to restore the legal order;
  4. inform the Head of the Directorate of Military Courts on the status of the proceedings in the Court under which he presides;
  5. to monitor compliance with the plan relating to the order in which the Judges of the presiding Tribunal are to perform their duties;
  6. to complete all orders and provisions emanating from superiority.

CHAPTER III

OF THE MILITARY JUDGES

SECTION FIRST

OF THE REQUIREMENTS

ARTICLE 21. The professional judges and presidents of the Military Courts must be entitled to the exercise of the law by title issued or revalidated by an authorized official university or institution.

SECTION 2

OF THE CHOICE

ARTICLE 22.-The President and the professional and legal judges of the Military Chamber of the Supreme People's Court are elected by the National Assembly of People's Power, on the proposal of the Ministers of the Revolutionary Armed Forces and of Justice together, from among the military personnel who are providing active military service.

Article 23.-The Council of State chooses the professional judges of the Territorial Military Courts and of Guarnitions, among the officers in active military service in the Revolutionary Armed Forces, on the proposal of the Minister of Justice.

Article 24. The Minister of Justice designates, among the professional judges elected by the Council of State, the Presidents of the Military and Territorial Military Courts.

ARTICLE 25.-The legal judges of the Military Courts are elected by public vote in assembly of the military unit. The election takes place among the Senior Officers, First Officers, Deputy Officers, Sub-Officers, Sergeant and Soldiers who are providing active military service.

SECTION III

OF THE TERM OF OFFICE

ARTICLE 26. The professional judges of the Military Courts are elected for a period of five years.

ARTICLE 27.-The legal judges of the Military Courts perform their duties for a period of two and a half years.

ARTICLE 28.-The professional and legal judges of the Military Courts, once the term of their term of office has expired, continue in their posts until they are elected and take possession of those who must replace them.

SECTION 4

OF THE REVOCATION OF THE MANDATE

ARTICLE 29.-The mandate of the military judges may be revoked at all times, by agreement of the body to which its election is legally incumbent.

SECTION QUINTA

OF THE VACATIVES

Article 30.-Vacancies that occur between one and another election in the Territorial Military Courts and of Guarnitions for the revocation, incapacity, retirement or death of the professional Judges or those who exist for another reason, are covered by the State Council, on a proposal from the Minister of Justice, from among the active military officers who have the requirements laid down by this Law.

SECTION 6

OF CRIMINAL LIABILITY

ARTICLE 31.-The Presidents, their Substitute and other professional Judges of the Military Courts may not be held liable for criminal liability, arrest or possession of their posts without the consent of the State Council, except in the case of a crime. Flagrant. By mediating this consent, the criminal liability is enforceable before the Court of First Instance superior to the one in which the defendant exercises his functions.

CHAPTER IV

OF THE ACCOUNTABILITY

Article 32.-Once a year, on the date when the Head of the Directorate of Military Courts is established, the Military and Territorial Courts are accountable for the judicial work carried out during the preceding year, by means of a report The president of the Armed Forces, who is headed to the units of his demarcation, from which he sends a copy to the Chief of the Military Courts, who produces an annual summary report that elevates the Ministers of the Revolutionary Armed Forces and Justice.

CHAPTER V

OF THE SECRETARIES AND THE ADMINISTRATIVE AND AUXILIARY STAFF

SECTION FIRST

GENERAL ARRANGEMENT

ARTICLE 33.-The Military Courts, for the performance of their duties, have judicial secretaries and administrative and auxiliary staff. SECTION 2 of the Secretaries

Article 34. The military in active service may be appointed judicial secretaries of the Military Courts who maintain exemplary conduct and possess the knowledge required for the performance of the position. In order to be appointed judicial secretary of a Territorial Military Court, it is also necessary to be a lawyer.

ARTICLE 35.-It is the obligation of the judicial secretaries:

  1. aid to the courts;
  2. to keep the relevant secret in the proceedings in which they are acting on the grounds of their duties, with respect to third persons other than them, unless the President of the Court authorises the provision of any information requested;
  3. carry out the relevant annotations to comply with and enforce the judicial terms;
  4. to record in the relevant records the days and hours in which court documents are received and delivered;
  5. to give the Court of all the forms of order sought, on the same day or at the latest, to be responsible for the unjustified delays in which they incur;
  6. to faithfully extend and authorize with his signature the judgments handed down by the Court;
  7. keep and keep up to date the case-book of causes and the other cases of the Court;
  8. to carry out the citations, the sites and the notifications;
  9. protect and preserve the pieces of conviction, the causes, files and documents that are in charge;
  10. to give certified copies or testimonies in the form provided by the law;
  11. carry the statistics of the cases to his office in the form established;
  12. (a) to issue minutes of oral proceedings, eye inspections or any other action of the Court, including the names of the Judges, Prosecutors, Advocates and other persons who have attended them;
  13. to ensure that there is no judicial resolution without signing by those who need to do so;
  14. entering the National Bank of Cuba the amounts of money to be made available to the Court;
  15. to facilitate the knowledge of the actions of the accused or their representatives, by making them manifest in the Court Registry on the appropriate opportunities;
  16. to retain the driving licences suspended by judicial decision;
  17. comply with the other obligations imposed on them by the laws and regulations, orders and other provisions of the higher command.

SECTION III

OF THE AUXILIARY SECRETARIES

Article 36. The staff of the Military Courts includes, in addition to the judicial secretary, one or more auxiliary secretaries, in accordance with the needs of the service. It is the duty of the auxiliary secretaries:

  1. assist the judicial secretaries in their duties and replace them in their temporary absences;
  2. to practise outside the seat of the Court the proceedings which the Registrar delegates to them;
  3. share their duties with the Secretary when the volume of the work so requires;
  4. carry out the proceedings of confiscation, surrender or destruction of the pieces of conviction, as laid down by the Court;
  5. drawing up reports and other documents at the request of the President of the Court or the Registrar;
  6. carry the book of control of the sanctioned;
  7. to recover the fines imposed; 8. fulfil the other tasks entrusted to them by the President or the Registrar.

SECTION 4

OF THE ADMINISTRATIVE AND ANCILLARY STAFF

Article 37. The functional duties of the other administrative and auxiliary employees of the Military Courts are regulated in the regulations issued by the Military Courts Directorate of the Ministry of Justice.

CHAPTER VI

FROM THE DIRECTORATE OF MILITARY TRIBUNALS

Article 38. The organizational and methodological direction, control and inspection of the Military Courts is carried out by the Military Courts Directorate of the Ministry of Justice.

ARTICLE 39.-The Directorate of Military Courts of the Ministry of Justice is in charge of a Chief, who has a Substitute and is structured in Sections.

Article 40.-The Minister of Justice, on a proposal from the Ministry of the Revolutionary Armed Forces, appoints the Chief of the Military Courts Directorate and his Substitute, among the officers who are providing the active military service.

ARTICLE 41.-The Minister of Justice, on the proposal of the Head of the Directorate of Military Courts, appoints the Heads of Sections of the officers who are providing the active military service.

ARTICLE 42.-Corresponds to the Chief of the Military Courts Directorate of the Ministry of Justice:

  1. to direct and organize the activities of the Military Courts in the investigation and assessment of the causes of the crime and to adopt measures for its eradication;
  2. to ensure compliance with the requirements of the law in the processing of criminal proceedings;
  3. inform the relevant bodies of transgressions that prevent or undermine the strict exercise of the rights that the law guarantees to the military and citizens in general;
  4. directing the educational and preventive activities of the Military Courts in the avoidance of anti-social conduct;
  5. propose to the General Staff of the Revolutionary Armed Forces the limits of the territory in which the Territorial Courts and the Guarantions are to exercise their jurisdiction;
  6. propose to the General Staff of the Revolutionary Armed Forces the structure and establishment of the Directorate of Military Courts, the Military and Territorial Military Courts, as well as the military level corresponding to each position;
  7. direct the elaboration of the judicial statistics of the Military Courts;
  8. to provide orders and guidance related to the organisation of work and the uniform performance of the Military Courts;
  9. to inform the Ministers of the Revolutionary Armed Forces and Justice of the state of judicial proceedings and all other matters concerning the activities of the Military Courts;
  10. inform the Minister of the Interior and the Head of the Political Directorate of the Ministry of the Interior on the state of the proceedings against the staff of that Agency, as well as on the judicial statistics relating to such personnel;
  11. inform the Chief of the General Staff and the Head of the Political Directorate of the Revolutionary Armed Forces on the status of the judicial affairs of the Revolutionary Armed Forces;
  12. raise the Minister of Justice with suggestions concerning legislation concerning military justice;
  13. to draw up the summary report on the accountability of the Military Courts and to elevate it to the Ministers of Justice and the Revolutionary Armed Forces;
  14. propose to the appropriate judicial body or the Prosecutor, the impeachment or review, as the case may be, of the judgments and final decisions handed down by the Military Courts when a judicial error has been found during the control of the work or other means of knowledge;
  15. propose to the Minister of Justice the candidacy of the professional judges to integrate the Military Courts;
  16. propose to the Minister of Justice the appointment of the Heads of Sections of the Directorate of Military Courts;
  17. to propose to the Minister of Justice the designation of the Presidents of the Territorial Military Courts and of Guarnitions;
  18. appoint and separate from their posts the First Inspectors, Inspectors, the Judicial Secretaries and the administrative and auxiliary staff of the Directorate and the Military Courts;
  19. draw up the work plan of the Directorate and approve the work plans of the subordinate courts;
  20. granting licenses to the Judges of the Military Courts and to the personnel of the Military Courts Directorate;
  21. propose to the General Staff of the Revolutionary Armed Forces the number of legal judges to be elected to the Military Courts;
  22. propose to the Minister of Justice, where appropriate, the commencement of the process for the revocation of the Judges of the Military Courts;
  23. organize and direct the professional and military training of the personnel of the Directorate, the Judges of the Military Courts, and the military and technical improvement of the administrative and auxiliary personnel;
  24. directing and controlling the implementation of the plans for the Marxist-Leninist preparation of the personnel of the Directorate-General for their position and the Military Courts;
  25. propose to the General Staff of the Revolutionary Armed Forces the licensing by transfer to the reserve or the retirement of the officers belonging to the Directorate for their position and to the Military Courts, and if they are Judges, when they have been revoked by the body which elected them;
  26. to designate and remove from among the professional judges the Substitute of the Presidents of the Territorial Military Courts and of Guarnitions and the members of the different Military Courts, taking into account the needs of the military service, the capabilities and qualities of the same and the circumstances and complexity of the activities to be carried out. It may also confer service commissions or appoint any of the professional Judges in the Directorate of Military Courts;
  27. propose in the form established for the officers the granting of degrees to the officers of the Directorate to his office and the Military Courts.

ARTICLE 43.-The Chief of the Military Courts Directorate participates in meetings that for the analysis of legality, military discipline or the fight against crime are carried out in the Ministry of the Revolutionary Armed Forces, and the Presidents of the Territorial Military Courts and of the Guarantees or Officers designated for that purpose, participate in the meetings which, with this same character, are held in the main units located within the territory in which they exercise their jurisdiction.

CHAPTER VII

FROM ADMINISTRATIVE ATTENTION TO THE MILITARY COURTS

Article 44.-The insurance, technical and material maintenance, the allocation and conservation of the transport and the media, the premises and archives of the Military and Territorial Courts, correspond to the and institutions of the Revolutionary Armed Forces.

Article 45.-The custody of the offices of the Military Courts and the conduct of the military officers who are held in the Military Units and Disciplinary Units, is in charge of the personnel of the unit in question. This Ministry is responsible for the conduct of the Military Courts of those who are being held in the prisons of the Interior Ministry.

TRANSITIONAL PROVISIONS

FIRST: As long as there is no sufficient number of graduates of the Faculty of Law in the Revolutionary Armed Forces, professional judges and appointed judicial secretaries of the Territorial Military Courts may be elected. students of these faculties or other officers with experience in this specialty.

SECOND: The Ministries of the Revolutionary Armed Forces and of Justice will propose to the Council of Ministers the Draft Regulation of this Law, and until it is enacted, they are authorized to dictate how many provisions consider necessary for the execution and fulfilment of the same, in what each of them concerns.

THIRD: The present Army Courts will continue to be aware of the processes of any kind that are in substance at the time of the promulgation of this Law, or that they will be initiated later before them, until the date when, for having The new Territorial Courts have been established, they must be definitively passed on to the knowledge of the latter.

FINAL PROVISIONS

FIRST: Law 1309, of 21 August 1976, Law of the Military Courts, and any other laws and regulations are repealed shall be repealed to comply with the provisions of this Law.

SECOND: This law will begin to govern once the judicial bodies established by the Law of the Organization of the Judicial System are established.

Havana City, eight days in the month of August, one thousand nine hundred and seventy-seven.

Blas Roca Calderio