judge who hears a case must be competent, independent and impartial. 449 Thus, the victims of human rights violations and their families have the right to have those violations heard and adjudged by a competent court, according to due process of law and access to justice. 450 399. The Court’s judgment on the case Cabrera García and Montiel Flores v. Mexico, regarding cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment of civilians by military personnel, reiterated its constant case law according to which the military jurisdiction is not competent to investigate and, if applicable, prosecute and punish the perpetrators of alleged human rights violations; instead, those responsible must always be tried by the ordinary justice system. This conclusion applies not only to cases of torture, forced disappearance and rape, but to all human rights violations.451 Moreover, the Court held in its judgment on Radilla Pacheco v. Mexico, a case of forced disappearance of a civilian, that in situations that violate the human rights of civilians, the military jurisdiction cannot operate under any circumstance. 452 400. The Court is aware that this case differs from its earlier decisions that debated the jurisdiction of military courts to investigate, try and punish human rights violations committed by members of the military, because the alleged victims in the instant case are not civilians, but members of an armed group taking part in hostilities in the framework of a hostage rescue operation. Even so, the Court will not admit this factor as a reason to set aside its own case law, given the allegations concerning individuals who were allegedly hors de combat and were entitled to the guarantees provided in Common Article 3 of the four Geneva Conventions. The alleged extrajudicial executions were formally reported in late 2000 and early 2001, on the argument that the incidents occurred after members of the MRTA, the alleged victims in this case, were captured or placed hors de combat, which would have transformed these alleged executions, if so proven, into serious human rights violations that should be investigated, tried and sanctioned exclusively by the ordinary courts. 401. The Court would like to emphasize that the first investigations on the alleged extrajudicial executions of Víctor Salomón Peceros Pedraza and Herma Luz Meléndez Cueva began in the ordinary courts in January, 2001, after the families of some of the dead MRTA members had filed criminal complaints with the public prosecutor, alleging the commission of extrajudicial executions (supra paras. 174 and 175); later, following a jurisdictional dispute lodged by the investigative justice department of the CSJM that was settled by the Transitory Criminal Law Chamber of the Supreme Court on August 16, 2002 (supra para. 189), the investigation and prosecution of the facts were transferred to the military courts for claims involving the military commandos. 402. The Court recalls that ever since its judgment of the case Durand and Ugarte v. Peru, its case law has consistently held that the military courts have no competent jurisdiction to investigate and, if necessary, prosecute and punish the perpetrators of human rights violations; instead, the prosecution of such cases must always fall to the general justice system.453. The facts in the Durand and Ugarte case involved an operation to subdue prison riots in 1986, in which the military made “disproportionate use of force, which surpassed the Cf. Case of Castillo Petruzzi et al. v. Peru. Merits, Reparations and Costs, supra, para. 130, and Case of Argüelles et al. v. Argentina, supra, para. 149. 449 Cf. Case of Radilla Pacheco v. Mexico, supra, para. 275, and Case of Rodríguez Vera et al. (the Disappeared from the Palace of Justice) v. Colombia, supra, para. 443. 450 451 Cf. Case of Cabrera García and Montiel Flores v. Mexico, supra, para. 198. 452 Cf. Case of Radilla Pacheco v. Mexico, supra, para. 274. Cf. Case of Durand and Ugarte v. Peru. Merits, supra, paras. 117, 118, 125 and 126, and Case of Argüelles et al. v. Argentina, supra, para. 148. 453