Guarantees of a fair Trial before the Military Court

Abstract

The Military Judiciary in Lebanon is specialized in dealing with the most sensitive cases and crimes related to state security, namely terrorism, treason and espionage, which civilians often commit. The Military Judiciary is also specialized in other crimes usually committed by civilians, such as firearms crimes and attacks on security and military forces. This qualitative power of the military judiciary, as well as its personal power, affect civilians and prompt the question about the guarantees the defendant enjoys before this judiciary in order to benefit from a fair trial. This is the problem posed by this study, which attempts to show the degree to which the defendant enjoys these guarantees in all stages of criminal prosecution before the military court; that is the stage prior to the public trial, (which includes the stages of the primary investigation, the interrogation), and the stage of the public trial.