This new date in the cycle of Continuing Education conferences in the Faculty was organised by the Carlemagne Institute for European Studies on the occasion of the seventieth anniversary of the Nuremberg Trials, which marked a before and after in International Law by establishing individual responsibility for war crimes.

The invited guests brought the students and professors attending  closer to a branch of law which is not well-known by the general public.  After quickly giving attendees an overview, Gutiérrez-Maturana  described the procedural peculiarities which characterise military court cases, within the jurisdictional unity which Spain enjoys.  The mixed composition of the tribunals, both military and civil, the military condition of the public prosecutor's office or a defence that is always civil attracted the attention of attendees.

He also described the structure of the tribunals and the distribution of topics based on the employment of the accused, which in our current legal organisation can only be a soldier, and ended by mentioning the habeas corpus institution, which also covers the Military Penal Code.

At the end of his talk, during the questions, the students attending were interested in finding out the extent to which typical symmetry exists between the Penal Code and the Military Code. They also asked why the legal representation/lawyer is always civil and what route to take to access this specific judicature.

On the other hand the speakers were also asked the point to which the Armed Forces may have a role to play in the current political moment in Catalonia.  Lieutenant General Álvarez, who holds the post of Institutional Representative of the Armed Forces in the north-east region, explained that in our country army intervention is a last resort, since there are sufficient political tools and constitutional resources to attempt to resolve any crisis of a public nature before military power would become involved.  And he added:  " The Armed Forces are not against society, instead they are at the service of society and also form part of it".