New Zealand Legislation: Acts

4 Notice of trial of protected persons to be served on protecting power, etc

• (1) The Court before which—

  • (a) A protected prisoner of war is brought up for trial for any offence; or

  • (b) A protected internee is brought up for trial for an offence for which that Court has power to sentence him 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) of this section, 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), on the accused, and (if the accused is a protected prisoner of war) on the prisoners' representative.

  (2) The particulars referred to in subsection (1) of this section are—

  • (a) The full name and description of the accused, including the date of his birth and his profession or trade, if any, and, if the accused is a protected prisoner of war, his rank and his army, regimental, personal, or serial number;

  • (b) His place of detention, internment, or residence;

  • (c) The offence with which he is charged; and

  • (d) The Court before which the trial is to take place and the time and place appointed for the trial.

  (3) For the purposes of this section a document purporting—

  • (a) 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

  • (b) To be an acknowledgment of the receipt by that power, representative, or person on a specified day of a notice described therein as a notice under this section—

  shall, unless the contrary is shown, be sufficient evidence that the notice required by subsection (1) of this section was served on that power, representative, or person on that day.

  (4) 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.

  (5) Any 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 enactment or any rule of law, remand the accused for the period of the adjournment.

  Paragraph (1)(b) was amended, as from 17 May 2005, by section 3 Geneva Conventions Amendment Act 2005 (2005 No 54) by omitting the words “to death or”.