Law 9 August 2024, n. came into force yesterday. 114 (so-called “Legge Nordio“), containing “Amendments to the penal code, the criminal procedure code, the judicial system and the military system code”, published in the Official Journal no. 187 of 10 August 2024.
The innovation foreseen, specifically, for the military is important, since the art. 7 of the aforementioned provided for the modification of the art. 1051 paragraph 2 of the COM (letter a) is replaced by the following: "against whom, for a non-culpable crime, a sentence of conviction has been issued in the first instance or sentence of application of the sentence upon request or executive criminal decree of sentence, even if the sentence is conditionally suspended") on the basis of which, from now (or rather, from yesterday) onwards, even those soldiers who are only sent to trial (or admitted to alternative trials) for malicious crimes will be able to be included in the advancement rate.
A circumstance which, previously, was precluded, as all those who were the recipients of a simple indictment could not aspire to move up the ranks1 which, as is known, it means nothing in terms of the alleged guilt of the accused, even more so if we consider that, in our system, the presumption of innocence applies until a final sentence is reached.
A necessary change, in the opinion of the writer, especially given the times with which, today, criminal proceedings are concluded, which keep those involved suspended in limbo, with the obvious human and, indeed, working repercussions.
Certainly, even at a disciplinary level, such an innovation cannot be free from repercussions, hopefully positive, being clearly possible, with greater conviction and legal basis - without prejudice, of course, to the obvious case-by-case evaluation, also taking into consideration any possible applications of precautionary measures by the criminal judge - order, by those responsible, the suspension of the relevant proceedings, pending the definition of the ordinary first degree judgement.
1 The now previous article 1051 COM, in this regard, provided as follows: "Military personnel cannot be included in the advancement rate or assessed for advancement if they are sent to trial or admitted to alternative trials for a non-negligent crime".
