Notice of trial of protected prisoners of war and internees to be served on protecting power etc
11 Notice of trial of protected prisoners of war and internees to be served on protecting power etc
The court before which:
a protected prisoner of war is brought up for trial for an offence; or
a protected internee is brought up for trial for an offence for which that court has power to sentence him or her to imprisonment for a term of 2 years or more;
shall not proceed with the trial until it is proved to the satisfaction of the court that a notice containing the particulars mentioned in subsection (2), so far as they are known to the prosecutor, has been served not less than 3 weeks previously on the protecting power (if there is a protecting power) and, if the accused is a protected prisoner of war, on the accused and the prisoners’ representative.
The particulars referred to in subsection (1) are:
the full name, date of birth and description of the accused, including his or her profession or trade;
where the accused is a protected prisoner of war—the accused’s rank and his or her army, regimental, personal and serial number;
the accused’s place of detention, internment or residence;
the offence with which the accused is charged; and
the court before which the trial is to take place and the time and place appointed for the trial.
For the purposes of this section, a document purporting:
to be signed on behalf of the protecting power or by the prisoners’ representative or by the person accused, as the case may be; and
to be an acknowledgment of the receipt by that power, representative or person on a specified day of a notice described in the document as a notice under this section;
shall, unless the contrary is shown, be sufficient evidence that the notice required by subsection (1) was served on that power, representative or person on that day.
In this section, the expression prisoners’ representative, in relation to a particular protected prisoner of war at a particular time, means the person by whom the functions of prisoners’ representative within the meaning of Article 79 of the Third Convention were exercisable in relation to that prisoner at the camp or place at which that prisoner was, at or last before that time, detained as a protected prisoner of war.
A court which adjourns a trial for the purpose of enabling the requirements of this section to be complied with may, notwithstanding anything in any other law, remand the accused for the period of the adjournment.
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