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Amendment of section 161 of Principal Act (offences in relation to courts-martial, etc.).
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18.— Section 161 of the Principal Act is amended—
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(a) in subsection (1), by substituting the following for paragraphs (b) and (c):
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“(b) an officer, pursuant to section 177, investigating a charge of an offence for which a person would be required on conviction to be sentenced to imprisonment for life,
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(c) a commanding officer, pursuant to section 178, investigating a charge of an offence for which a person would be required on conviction to be sentenced to imprisonment for life,”,
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(b) in subsection (2)—
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(i) by inserting the following after paragraph (e):
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“(ea) who communicates with the Director, a member of his staff (including a prosecuting officer), a member of a court-martial board, a military judge or a witness in any proceedings under this Act for the purpose of influencing, directly or indirectly, any decision relating to the performance of their functions, including, as appropriate, a decision to withdraw or not to institute such proceedings or any particular charge in such proceedings or the conduct or trial of any such proceedings, or
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(eb) who fails, refuses or neglects to comply with a direction of the military judge under section 195, or
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(ec) who, by act or omission, obstructs or hinders a service tribunal in the performance of its functions, or”,
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and
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(ii) by substituting the following for paragraph (f):
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“(f) who does or omits to do any other thing, which, if the service tribunal were a civil court having power to commit for contempt, would be contempt of that court,”,
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and
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(c) by inserting the following after subsection (2):
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“(3) If the Director, a member of his staff (including a prosecuting officer), a member of a court-martial board, a military judge or a witness in any proceedings under this Act is of the opinion that a communication is in breach of subsection (2)(ea) of this section, it shall be the duty of that person not to entertain the communication further.
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(4) (a) In the case of the Director or a member of his staff, subsection (2)(ea) of this section does not apply to—
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(i) communications made by a person who is a complainant in proceedings for, or has been charged with, an offence under this Act or believes that he is likely to be charged with an offence under this Act, or
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(ii) communications made by a person involved in the matter either personally or as legal or medical adviser to a person involved in the matter or as a social worker or a member of the family of a person involved in the matter.
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(b) In this subsection ‘member of the family’ means spouse, parent, grandparent, step-parent, child (including a step-child or an adopted child), grandchild, brother, sister, half-brother, half-sister, aunt, uncle, niece or nephew of the person concerned;
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‘ spouse ’ means each person of a couple in relation to the other;
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‘ couple ’ means a married couple or a man and woman who are not married to each other but are cohabiting as husband and wife.
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(5) Subsection (2) of this section shall apply in relation to the summary disposal of charges under section 177C, 178C or 179C, as the case may be, as it applies to a service tribunal and for the purposes of such application references in the said subsection (2) to a service tribunal shall be construed as references to the summary disposal of charges under section 177C, 178C or 179C, as the case may be.”.
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