M
emorandum July 25, 2006
TO: House Armed Services Committee
Attention: Lorry Fenner
FROM: Jennifer K. Elsea
Legislative Attorney
American Law Division
SUBJECT: Comparison of Procedural Rules in Criminal Proceedings
The attached document, a chart entitled “Comparison of Selected Procedural Rights in
Criminal Tribunals,” is provided in response to your request for a new version of the chart
from CRS Report RL31600, The Department of Defense Rules for Military Commissions:
Analysis of Procedural Rules and Comparison with Proposed Legislation and the Uniform
Code of Military Justice. In addition to columns comparing the rules for courts-martial and
for military commissions as presently established by the Department of Defense Military
Commission Order No. 1, the chart provides information regarding the procedural rules in
selected international tribunals. These include the International Military Tribunal (IMT)
established by the Allies to try European Axis war crimes after World War II, as well as the
more recent “ad hoc” tribunals established by the United Nations Security Council to try war
crimes that occurred during the conflicts in the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda.
The following sources and abbreviations are used:
M.C.M.: Manual for Courts-Martial, 2002 ed.
R.C.M.: Rules for Courts-for Courts-Martial, M.C.M. Part II.
Mil. R. Evid.: Military Rules of Evidence, M.C.M. Part III.
M.C.O. No. 1: Department of Defense Military Commission Order Number 1, Procedures for
Trials by Military Commissions of Certain Non-United States Citizens in the War Against
Terrorism (August 31, 2005), available online at
[http://www.defenselink.mil/news/Sep2005/d20050902order.pdf].
M.C.I.: Military Commission Instruction, issued by the Department of Defense General
Counsel, available online at [http://www.defenselink.mil/
news/Aug2004/commissions_instructions.html].
Congressional Research Service Washington, D.C. 20540-7000
IMT: International Military Tribunal (Nuremberg), created pursuant to the London
Agreement of August 8, 1945. The agreement, as well as the tribunal’s constitution (“IMT
Charter”) and rules of procedure are available online at the Avalon Project at Yale
University, [http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/imt/proc/v1menu.htm]. The Opinion and
