A/HRC/4/40/Add.4 page 7 2. The judicial branch (a) The Supreme Court 6. The Supreme Court of Justice, composed of 15 judges elected for a seven-year term by the National Congress, has a twofold mandate in Honduras. On the one hand, it is the highest judicial court of the country and, on the other, it is also an administrative body responsible for the organization and administration of the judicial system. 7. Among its administrative functions, the Supreme Court drafts the budget for the court system and submits it to the National Congress; divides the country into judicial districts; establishes, abolishes, merges or transfers trial courts, courts of appeal and other tribunals; manages public defenders’ offices; and appoints and dismisses judges. 8. As the country’s highest court, the Supreme Court sits in different chambers: Constitutional, Criminal, Labour, Administrative and Civil. The chambers hear appeals in cassation of the decisions of the lower courts. The Supreme Court also hears appeals on the constitutional remedies of habeas corpus, appeals on constitutional grounds (amparo), and cases of unconstitutionality. (b) Trial and appellate courts 9. The oral and public trials in felony cases that are the hallmark of the new Criminal Procedure Code (CPP) take place before three-member trial courts (CPP, art. 57). 10. Individual judges hold hearings and rule on all issues arising at the pretrial stage, including preventive detention and other preventive measures. They also hear cases tried in expedited proceedings, e.g. procedimiento abreviado (CPP, art. 403), which can be used if the accused pleads guilty. 11. Justices of peace (who are not necessarily trained lawyers) hear cases for minor offences (CPP, art. 59). They also deal with urgent matters which would otherwise fall within the competence of the juez de letras or the prosecutor (such as ordering the detention of a suspect) when the latter cannot immediately intervene, which occurs mostly in remote rural areas. 12. Appeals against the decisions of a justice of peace are brought before an individual judge (CPP, art. 58.6), while appeals against the decisions of a trial court are brought before a court of appeal (CPP, art. 56). The Supreme Court hears appeals in cassation. (c) The juez de ejecución 13. The mandate of the juez de ejecución de penas y medidas de seguridad (judge in charge of monitoring the execution of sentences and security measures, hereinafter “juez de ejecución”) is to ascertain that preventive detention and prison sentences are carried out in accordance with the law and the judicial decisions. The juez de ejecución is also competent to decide on all incidents arising during the execution of a prison sentence, as well as to ensure that the rights of