19 iii. Article 1 describes the authority to administer military justice, which, in time of peace, is exercised by the Supreme Court of Justice, in the first place and, secondly, by the Supreme Council of Military Justice, the CourtsMartial, the Superior Councils, and the trial judges; iv. Article 4 states that it corresponds to the Supreme Court to settle the jurisdictional disputes that may arise among military and ordinary courts; v. Article 5 establishes that the Supreme Council of Military Justice has jurisdiction throughout the Republic over the police and the armed forces and has its seat in the capital of the Republic. It is composed of ten members, five of whom are lawyers who belong to the Military Juridical Corps and five are career officers. Military justice requires the support of this joint tribunal that, on the one hand, has expertise in military matters and, on the other, expertise in legal matters; vi. Article 10 establishes that, on matters that are initially considered by the Supreme Council, it has competence to judge generals and admirals of the armed forces and their counterparts in the police force; vii. Article 12, sub-section 10, states that it is the Supreme Council that initially considers military cases against generals and admirals, even when other officers of a lower rank are involved in the proceeding, which means that “when an ordinary proceeding against a general is established, this general “pulls in” all the officers of a lower rank; viii. Article 62 regulates the structure of military justice, which is composed of lawyers and also of armed forces officers, since it is a joint tribunal. The expert stated that when a lawyer of the Military Juridical Corps who works in a special legal field is posted elsewhere, the chief military justice authority must make the proposal, since such changes cannot be made arbitrarily by the military commands. With regard to the Code of Military Justice, he declared that it is a substantive and procedural code. One part of it defines the crimes and the other describes the procedures. This Code sets out who is considered to be a member of the armed forces, and establishes that a military criminal proceeding may be opened against such a person. In particular, Article 320 establishes that military jurisdiction is applicable by reason of the crime or of the rank. While Article 321 states that “for the effects of this Code, members of the armed forces are those persons who have a military rank or who are on military service, according to the Organic Laws of the armed forces and the police forces, which govern personnel from the different services”. The expert stated that, according to the Law on Military Status, an officer never loses his rank, which he retains while he lives. This law establishes that there are officers on active duty, in reserve and in retirement. Thus, a person who is retired is an officer - a retired officer - and this military rank can only be taken away by a judicial decision. If no such judicial decision exists, a person will retain his military rank until the day he dies. He declared that a retired officer has a military rank because the law says so. Accordingly, he