Budgets and discipline: choose one

DefenceWeb reports on a budget crunch in South Africa with implications for the administration of justice. Excerpt:

According to the Department of Defence annual performance plan for the current year the budget allocation for legal services is more than R47 million less than the requested – and approved – amount of R297 841 000. This includes R56 million plus for the Military Ombud office, headed by retired lieutenant general Temba Matanzima.

The performance plan has it that both the human resource component and operating means required for the administration of military justice “will be severely impaired and will result in increases in backlog cases and cases of fraud and corruption”.

“This will result in a military discipline system or structure unable to support the Constitutional imperative of ‘managing the defence force as a disciplined military force’.”

No "hobnobbing" or "being partisan" during Nigeria's elections

"I have directed for a special Standing Court Martial to be set up in preparation for the coming 2019 elections."

"I must warn that any Nigerian Army personnel found hobnobbing with politicians or being partisan will be investigated and sent to the Special Standing Court Martial."

"I must state clearly that any officer or soldier who wishes to be sympathetic to political, religious or ethnic cause should voluntarily retire from the Nigerian Army," [Chief of Army Staff, Lt.-Gen. Tukur] Buratai said.

He also restated the ban on any form of worship outside the barracks except those permitted for wedding and other social functions.

“Therefore, officers and soldiers must restrain themselves from any act of political, religious or ethnic patronage as these would attract severe consequences,’’ he said.

From this report in Vanguard.

Immunity and impunity in Jamaica

What happens when military personnel shoot the wrong person during a state of emergency? A case in Jamaica raises the issue of certificates of immunity, phrased as follows:

“I hereby certify that the actions of JDF (Jamaica Defence Force) Corporal Odel Buckley on May 27, 2010 between the hours of 12 am and 12 pm at...Kirkland Close, Red Hills, St Andrew, which may have contributed to or caused the death of Keith Clarke, were done in good faith in the exercise of his functions as a member of the security forces for public safety, the restoration of order, the preservation of the peace, and in the public interest.”

 The validity of the certificates issued to three members of the JDF will be decided by either a single High Court judge or the full court.

36 military court capital cases referred to Egypt's Grand Mufti

Reuters reports from Cairo on an unusual -- perhaps unique -- aspect of Egyptian military court procedure:

A military court has referred 36 defendants accused of taking part in deadly church bombings to Egypt’s top religious authority for consideration of the death penalty, state television reported on Tuesday.

The defendants are suspected of involvement in bombings that hit three Coptic churches - one at Cairo’s Coptic Cathedral in December 2016 that killed at least 25, and two that hit churches in Alexandria and Tanta on the same day in April 2017 and killed more than 45 people.

Islamic State claimed responsibility for all three attacks.

Egypt requires that courts refer cases to the Grand Mufti for consideration of the death penalty ahead of a final verdict although his decision is non-binding.

Human rights jurisprudence requires that military courts, like other courts, be impartial and independent. Even though the Grand Mufti's decision is not binding, it casts a shadow over the independence of the military courts. One wonders how often the courts reject the Grand Mufti's decision.

Crown appeals acquittal in Canadian case

The Charlottetown Guardian reports that the Crown has appealed the acquittal of a Canadian Forces reserve officer to the Court Martial Appeal Court of Canada.

The charges against [Capt. Todd] Bannister stemmed from incidents that allegedly occurred between November 2012 and June 2015 in Montréal and Charlottetown while he was serving as the Commanding Officer of 148 Royal Canadian Army Cadet Corps.

In one incident, Bannister was alleged to have propositioned a former cadet to engage in sexual intercourse. He was also accused of making the same request to her on a separate occasion.

On Feb. 27, the military judge found Bannister not guilty on two counts of behaving in a disgraceful manner and not guilty on two counts of conduct to the prejudice of good order and discipline.

No explanation for the acquittal is provided on the website of the Office of the Chief Military Judge. Judging by this account, however, it appears that the military judge had ruled that the cadets harassment and abuse prevention policy at issue was not a binding order. "While the judge said the alleged behaviour was not condoned, he ruled the prosecution did not provide sufficient evidence from a criminal standard that Bannister had behaved in a disgraceful manner."