20
Article 14
16. Military Courts and Other Judicial Systems within the Military
At present, each division of the military has a department of justice that is
superintended by the division commander. The military prosecutor’s office and the
general military court is installed within the department of justice. Article 11 of the
Act on the Organization of National Armed Forces stipulates that a head of a unit or
an agency of each service of the Armed Forces shall direct and supervise his unit or
agency by order of the chief of the superior unit or agency under the formation
regulations or the system of direction and supervision, which makes it possible for
the court and prosecutor of the unit’s department of justice to be directly or
indirectly influenced by the division commander.
The military police is the primary investigative organization in the military. It is
usually formed as a unit linked directly under the divisions and the provost marshal
directly reports to the division commander on matters of criminal cases. The division
commander is the commander of the military court jurisdiction and has the power of
mitigation over the military court’s verdict, so there are concerns regarding the
compromise of the independence of judiciary (para 221).
Question
What are measures to establish the independence of judiciary in the existing
military court system?