The military courts of Thailand (Thai: ศาลทหาร; RTGS: san thahan) are judicial bodies with criminal jurisdiction over members of the Royal Thai Armed Forces and sometimes also over civilians as may be assigned by law,^[1] as was the case from 25 May 2014 until 12 September 2016 following the 2014 Thai coup d'état.^[2][3][4]

Unlike other courts in the judicial system of Thailand, military courts are subject to the Ministry of Defence and are operated by the military's Judge Advocate General's Department.^[1]

Procedure

The current procedural law governing the military courts is the Military Court Organisation Act 1955 (Thai: พระราชบัญญัติธรรมนูญศาลทหาร พ.ศ. ๒๔๙๘).^[1] The act allows the Judge Advocate General of Thailand (Thai: เจ้ากรมพระธรรมนูญ) to establish court regulations.^[5] In wartime or during the imposition of martial law, military courts may adopt special procedures.^[1]

Judges

Military court judges (Thai: ตุลาการ) are serving military officers of two types: "general judges" (Thai: ตุลาการปรกติ) and "judge-advocates" (Thai: ตุลาการพระธรรมนูญ).^[1] General judges are officers for whom legal training is not a prerequisite. Judge-advocates are trained and accredited in the law.^[1]

Structure

According to the Military Court Organisation Act 1955, military courts consist of three tiers: courts of first (trial court), second (appellate court), and third instance (final court of appeal).^[1]

The act permits the establishment of special military courts, known as war crime courts (Thai: ศาลอาญาศึก), in time of war or during periods of martial law.^[5]