Review of findings and sentences of subordinate military courts by reviewing authority
116.—(1) For the purposes of this Act, the Armed Forces Council is a reviewing authority.
(2) The Armed Forces Council may delegate its powers as a reviewing authority under this section to a committee consisting of at least 3 of its members.
(3) An accused who has been sentenced by a subordinate military court or who has been found to be unfit to stand his or her trial or to be not guilty by reason of insanity may, within such time and in such manner as may be prescribed, present a petition to the reviewing authority against the finding or sentence or both.
(4) The reviewing authority may —
(a)
at any time on its own motion; and
(b)
upon receipt of a petition under subsection (3) must, as soon as practicable after considering the matters alleged in the petition,
review the finding or sentence.
(5) Despite subsection (4), if notice of appeal has been lodged with the registrar of the Military Court of Appeal under section 129, any powers of review exercised by the reviewing authority in reviewing a finding or sentence under this section cease to have effect; and the appeal must be proceeded with as if no petition to review the finding or sentence had been made.
(6) On a review, the reviewing authority may —
(a)
insofar as the review is of a finding, quash the finding and if the sentence relates only to the finding quashed, the sentence;
(b)
insofar as the review is of a sentence, quash the sentence;
(c)
in any case substitute a new finding for any finding of guilt made by a subordinate military court that is illegal or cannot be supported by the evidence, if the new finding could validly have been made by the subordinate military court on the charge and if it appears that the court was satisfied of the facts establishing the offence specified or involved in the new finding;
(d)
in any case substitute for the finding of guilt made by a subordinate military court a new finding of some other offence if —
(i)
the subordinate military court could on the charge have found the accused guilty under section 90 of that other offence;
(ii)
the subordinate military court could have found the accused guilty of that other offence on any alternative charge that was laid, and it appears that the facts proved the accused guilty of that other offence;
(e)
in any case where a sentence is invalid or unduly severe substitute therefor any other punishment or any lesser punishment which the subordinate military court could have awarded but so that in any event the punishment so substituted is not greater or more severe than that awarded by the subordinate military court.
(7) Any substituted finding or sentence imposed under this section is to be treated for all purposes as a finding or sentence of the subordinate military court.
(8) Despite anything in this section but subject to section 156(4), a sentence of death must not be carried into effect until reviewed by the reviewing authority unless the sentence of death is passed on a person on active service.
(9) In such an event a sentence of death may, subject to subsection (3) and to the accused’s right of appeal, be carried out if an officer of or above the rank of lieutenant‑colonel, who is specifically designated by the Armed Forces Council for the purpose, certifies to the Armed Forces Council that it is essential in the interests of discipline and for the purpose of securing the safety of the force with which the accused is serving that the sentence should be carried out forthwith.