Reform afoot in South Korea

South Korea's defense minister has revealed plans for dramatic changes in the country's court-martial and summary discipline systems. According to this KBS World Radio report:

South Korea plans to carry out military judicial reform as early as next year.

Defense Minister Song Young-moo said during a press conference on Monday that he expects to receive a draft plan on how to reform the military legal system within the year, adding a new system will be in place by next year or 2020.

The ministry said it is pushing for reform to meet demands of the era and guarantee constitutional and human rights of military personnel.

Under the plan, military authorities are seeking to abolish the High Court for Armed Forces and the military guardhouse system, among other measures.

The military high court, which functions as an appeals court for lower military courts, has long been criticized for lacking objectivity. Instead, the Seoul High Court will likely take over the role.

The guardhouse system has allowed captains or high-ranked military officers to put rank-and-file soldiers within a military confinement facility at their discretion for up to 15 days at a time. The military plans to make any incarceration possible only through an official court trial and use a military prison instead of a confinement facility.

Court-martialing the dead: fake news

That story about court-martialing a dead soldier? It is fake news, the Ghana Armed Forces has announced. The denial comes after the Daily Post reported on how it's done:

A source told GhanaWeb that at the end of investigations, his body will be court-marshaled [sic] and possibly sentenced to 40 days in the military guardroom, in line with the laws and statutes governing the Ghana Army.

“Being dead, his uniform will be hanged in the guardroom for 40 days after which his body be released to the family for burial.

Here is the GAF's press statement:

RE: FALSE PUBLICATION ABOUT GHANA ARMED FORCES IN RESPECT OF LATE 203615 LAC VONDEE FRANCIS ATSU

The Ghana Armed Forces (GAF) has noted with deep concern the false publication which has gone viral on social media after the late Airman 203615 LAC Vondee Atsu Francis died in a tragic road traffic accident with the popular music artiste Ebony.

The reports which allege some actions taken by GAF are not only false but demonstrates insensibility towards the emotions of the rank and file of GAF and the family of the deceased Airman.

Following reports of the accident, the mortal remains of the late LAC Vondee Atsu Francis was recovered on Friday afternoon to the 37 Military Hospital where the corpse was formally identified by the family in line with GAF Standard Operating Procedures.

GAF owes a responsibility to the family of the deceased Airman to preserve and produce the mortal remains for burial and funeral rites.

All military personnel who get involved in accidents are first evacuated as soon as practicable irrespective of where the accident occurred.

Recent cases include the evacuation of the corpse of the Late Cpl Fletcher Carl who died in a road traffic accident on the Bolga – Bawku road and the medical evacuation of officer cadets who were involved in a road traffic accident in the Volta Region.

After the evacuation, investigations are conducted to among other things determine the circumstances that led to the accident with the view of putting measures in place to if possible avoid or minimize the occurrence of similar incidents.

In the instant case of this Airman, it is stressed that investigations are being instituted to unravel the full circumstances surrounding the sad incident.

It is therefore inaccurate and malicious for anyone to insinuate that the body of the late LAC Vondee Atsu has been detained till it serves a sentence passed by a court-martial.

At this moment of national grief, we expect the public to mourn and sympathize with the bereaved families and also respect their sensibilities instead of exacerbating their pain with such a fabricated story.

The Military High Command takes this opportunity to extend their condolences to the bereaved families while wishing the injured a speedy recovery.

E AGGREY-QUASHIE

Colonel
Director Public Relations

Next case. 

Breaker Morant back in the news

Lord Kitchener signed
the death warrants

Efforts continue in the Australian parliament to raise questions about the fairness of the Boer War capital case of Harry ("Breaker") Morant and Peter Handcock. According to this Daily Mail report, MP Scott Buchholz has said: "The process used to try these men was fundamentally flawed."

Labor's Mike Kelly, himself a former Australian Army lawyer, said the executions were a "deep scar" on the Australian experience, but some good came out of it.

"If there's anything that we can say came out of this positive, it's that ... we were never going to be subject to (British) military justice again," he said.

A quiet year in Irish military justice

The data are in for Irish military justice in 2017; not much happened at the McKee Barracks Military Justice Centre. According to the Irish Examiner, "[j]ust two members of the Defence Forces faced a Court-Martial trial last year, while five others appealed earlier [summary] courts martial decisions handed down in their cases."

Asma Jahangir dies

Asma Jahangir

Asma Jahangir, 66, a brilliant and brave Pakistani human rights lawyer, died today in Lahore. The New York Times's obituary can be found here. She was the first woman to head the Supreme Court Bar Association of Pakistan.

Dawn reports here on some of her accomplishments.

Who will step into her shoes?