A norm that gives military jurisdiction competence over common crimes committed by members of the military in the exercise of their functions does not produce results contrary to the Constitution. Two former members of the Carabineros (Chilean police under the Ministry of Interior but still considered part of the Armed Forces) alleged that their human rights to equal protection before the law, to an independent and impartial court and to due process of law were violated by being tried for falsification of documents in a military court rather than in a civilian court.
The Chilean Constitutional Court held that they were appropriately tried in a military court. It pointed out that there were two laws that came into play dealing with falsification of documents: Article 367 No. 5 of the Military Code of Justice and Article 193 of the Penal Code. The former can only be committed by a member of the military in abuse of his functions with regard to documents referring to service in the military institutions. The Inter-American Court of Human Rights would have agreed with this decision.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Comments are subject to moderation and must be submitted under your real name. Anonymous comments will not be posted (even though the form seems to permit them).