Turkey: Law No. 353 of 1963 on Establishment of Military Courts and Tribunal Procedure (Military Criminal Procedure Law)

Date of entry into force: 1963

Article 1: Establishment (Paragraph one amended: 2376, 21/1/1981)

Military courts shall be established by the Ministry of National Defence to exercise jurisdiction on behalf of the Turkish nation, at the level ofthe army corps, the army, (its air and naval equivalents) the commanders of the forces and the Chief of General Staff.

Article 9: General Duties

Unless indicated to the contrary [elsewhere] in the law, military courts shall hear legal cases relating to military offences by military persons and the offences that they have committed against military persons or in military places, or in relation to military service and military duties.

Article 10: Military persons (Amendment 1596-8.6.1972)

In the application of this law, the persons below mentioned shall be considered as military persons:

A) Soldiers on active service:

commissioned officers, government employees [working] for the military, military students, non-commissioned officers, lance corporals, private soldiers,

B) Reserve soldiers (during their military service),

C) Civilian personnel employed in the cadre and institutions of the Ministry of National Defence or the Turkish Armed Forces.

D) Workers employed in military work places and subject to the Labour Law,

E) Those who join the Turkish Armed Forces of their own accord,

F) Those persons who have been detained or imprisoned by military judicial organs or those who are being kept under guard or observation by the military authorities.

Article 11: Trial procedures for non-military persons in military courts (Amendment 1596 - 8.6.1972)

Military courts shall hear cases in connection with the offences mentioned below, concerning persons who are not military personnel:

A) Offences set out in articles 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 63, 64, 81, 93, 94, 100, 101, 102 and paragraph B of 148 of the Military Criminal Law...

Article 14: Duties of military courts during a state of war

Military Courts shall hear the below mentioned cases during a state of war:

...G) cases in connection with the offences set out in articles 75, 78, 80, 124, 125 and 127 of the Military Criminal Law.

Authority of military courts

Article 21: General authority

The authority of the military courts shall cover the people under the command of the detachment commander or military establishment chief [chief's office] in the vicinity of which the [relevant] military court was set up according to the cadre or institution, and the members of the unit or military institution who come under it from a judicial point of view.

Article 22: Special authority

Those persons who are subject to the authority of a military court but about whom it is unclear whichmilitary court has authority with respect to cadre or institution shall be subject to the authority of the military court governing the military unit or establishment in the region where they are located or committed the offence.

Article 23: Authority over those temporarily assigned

Those military persons who are temporarily assigned to a military unit or institution shall, while their assignment continues, be subject to the authority of the military court to which their military unit or institution is linked.
Comments:
This is an unofficial translated consolidation transmitted to UNHCR on 23 May 1997. This Law is dated 25 October 1963. This document includes only selected provisions.
Disclaimer:

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