Military Tribunal of Turin
Structure
The Military Tribunal of Turin is part of the Military Justice system, which, since a thorough reform in 1981 (Law No. 180 of 7 May 1981), ensures the fundamental principles of independency of the judiciary and of self-administration by a governing body, the Council for Military Justice.
Means and administrative staff are provided by the Ministry of Defence.
Professional Judges and Prosecutors
Judicial officers are civil servants enjoying the same status and guarantees as the ordinary ones.
Both Judges and Prosecutors belong to the same career, and are recruited on a competitive basis, through a selection reserved to ordinary Judges and Prosecutors, in first instance, and open to the public, in second instance.
Military Judicial System
Basic applicable law is:
- the ordinary Criminal Procedural Law (Presidential Decree No. 447 of 22 September 1988), containing the rules of procedure and evidence,
- the ordinary Criminal Law (Royal Decree No. 1398 of 19 October 1930), as to general principles and norms of substantial criminal law,
- the Military Penal Laws for Peacetime and for Wartime (Royal Decree No. 303 of 20 February 1941), as to substantial special criminal law.
Such legislation has been thereafter repeatedly amended, and also the Italian Constitutional Court has intervened over a number of provisions, to ensure consistency with constitutional principles and norms.
As a result of this process, and of the 1981 reform on the composition of the Military Tribunals, currently the Military Judicial System is modelled on the ordinary criminal justice system, the only difference being its jurisdiction.
Jurisdiction
Military Criminal Jurisdiction rationae materiae is defined by the applicable law, and covers military crimes and other offences.
War crimes are also included in the Military criminal jurisdiction.
Military Tribunals have jurisdiction rationae personae over offences committed by military personnel and, under limited circumstances, also by civilians.
The Military Tribunal of Turin
The territorial competence of the Military Tribunal of Turin is extended over four North Western Italian Regions, comprising 17 Provinces. This includes the territory comprised between the Province of Genova, on the Adriatic Sea (South), the national borders with France (West) and Switzerland (North), and includes the Milan Province (East)
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A number of major Trials held before the Military Tribunal of Turin over the last five years dealt with charges on serious white collar crimes (e.g., corruption, embezzlement, fraud), as well as on war crimes.
Since October 2002 the Tribunal is run by Judge Roberto Bellelli.
