Thursday, October 12, 2017

No civilian trials for Brazilian soldiers accused of killing civilians

According to this report, "Brazilian troops who are increasingly being pressed into service to fight urban drug gangs will face a military tribunal, rather than a civilian court, if they are accused of killing civilians, under new legislation." Congress passed the bill on Tuesday. Defense minister Raul Jungmann said "in the event of unlawful death charges against soldiers, military courts were better equipped to rule fairly and quickly than slow-moving civilian courts. He added that charges such as torture aren’t covered by the new law and would continue to be heard by a civilian court."

Quaere: why not just improve the "slow-moving civilian courts"? In what sense are they less "well equipped" to be fair than military courts?

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