Abstract

The existence of the special penal rules for the military personnel is inevitable. The criterion and the scale specified by the current statutory provisions for the identification and recognition of crime and distinguishing the military crime from the general crime is the concomitant existence of two features in a criminal action. One of the two features pertains to the legal personality of the perpetrator meaning that the crime doer should be a member of the armed forces and the second one is related to the statuses and conditions wherein and under which the crime occurs. Therefore, enactment of special criteria and regulations regarding the authorities and duties, violations and crimes of the military type and prediction of punitive strategies regarding their breach of their duties are amongst the sure and undoubted necessities in the military formations. Trial of the crimes related to the special military and disciplinary duties of the members of Islamic Republic of Iran’s armed forces is within the jurisdiction of the military courts. By the crimes related to the special military and disciplinary duties, those transgressions are intended that are perpetrated by the members of the armed forces in the performance of their military and disciplinary duties and responsibilities as specified for them in the rules and regulations. These are the crimes or criminal behaviors the perpetration and exhibition of which by the civilians is impossible due to military personnel’s responsibilities being different from those of the ordinary people. The nonmilitary individuals or the civilians might not be so much held criminally liable in case of perpetrating such crimes or exhibiting such behaviors like failure in fulfilling an order or leaving the position or deserting the service and so forth.