ry courts: military tribunals and
territorial military tribunals. The former are the lesser of the two and
are established at major installations or are attached to large tactical
units. They are the courts of first instance in all cases that come
before them. The chairman, or judge, must be a major or higher ranking
officer and have a degree in law. The judge is assisted by two people's
assessors who, on military courts, are active duty officers. People's
assessors need have no legal training but, as is the case for civil
courts, they must be twenty-three years of age, have been graduated from
secondary school, have a good reputation, and have no criminal record.
In all military trials the judge and people's assessors must hold the
same rank as, or higher than, the accused.

The higher territorial military tribunals are the courts of first
instance for very serious crimes or the courts to which sentences of
lower courts are appealed. In cases in which they are the courts of
first instance, the court panel consists of at least two judges and
three people's assessors. When they are hearing an appealed case, the
panel has a minimum of three judges.

The Supreme Court of the land has final appeal jurisdiction over any
case it may decide to hear, and it may review any case it chooses or
that is sent to it by higher governmental agencies. It has a special
military section that is headed by an officer of major general or higher
rank. It may be the court of first instance for cases involving the most
serious crimes or in lesser situations when an important legal precedent
may be established.

Logistics

Military leaders state that their forces have adequate quantities of
excellent and modern equipment. As is the situation with all other
Warsaw Pact countries, Romania has received its heavy weapons and more
complex equipment from the Soviet Union. Initially the Soviets
distributed surplus World War II stocks. As these wore out or became
obsolete, nearly all items were eventually replaced by postwar models.
More complex and expensive weapons sometimes were used by Soviet forces
first and appeared in Eastern Europe only after they had been replaced
in the Soviet Union. In most circumstances, whether they were newly
manufactured or secondhand, items have been supplied to other forces
considerably after they were first issued to Soviet troops.

Equipment that is in short supply has not been distributed to each of
the pact a