Although I fully appreciate the emotional and intellectual attachment of my hon. The system has served us well for many years. Other systems serve other countries equally well, or some might argue better. I want to make some specific points about courts martial. They are held in public and are therefore open to public scrutiny.
Defendants choose their own lawyers.
An appeal against court martial findings can be made to the Courts-Martial Appeal Court, which is made up of civilian judges. With regard to overseas offences, certain very serious offences committed in the United Kingdom, such as murder and rape, must be tried by a civil court, but that court cannot deal with offences committed abroad. One purpose of trying very serious offences committed abroad by means of court martial is to safeguard service personnel from local law, which may not be governed by the European convention. Sierra Leone provides an example of that. The schedule would bring all disciplinary offences and trials within the provisions of the convention.