Guest Bloggers
Stéphane Bourgon
Me Stéphane Bourgon Ad.E. is a military academy graduate, former officer and military legal advisor who served in the Canadian Armed Forces for more than 20 years, specializing in criminal law (prosecuting and defending before Courts Martial), operational law and international humanitarian law. He participated in many international missions including in Norway (CAST brigade), Germany (artillery regiment), Bosnia and Herzegovina (NATO Implementation Force – IFOR) and Burundi (United Nations Centre for Human Rights). Called to the Bar (Québec, Canada) in 1993, he has been practicing before the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) on a full time basis for more than 14 years. He initially worked in the Office of the Prosecutor, moving on to Chambers where he held the position of Chef de Cabinet in the Office of the President. Since January 2002, he has been assigned as Defence Counsel to represent numerous accused before the ICTY including, amongst others, General Hadžihasanović – former Chief of Staff of the Army of Bosnia and Herzegovina), General Delić – former Commander in Chief of the Army of Bosnia and Herzegovina, General Dragomir Milosević – Commander of the Sarajevo Romania Corps (Bosnian Serb Army), General Veselin Šljivančanin (Army of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia), Second Lieutenant Drago Nikolić – Chief of Security of the Zvornik Brigade (Bosnian Serb Army) and General Momčilo Perišić – former Chief of Staff of the Army of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.
Recently, Me Bourgon also represented the late Ange Félix Patassé – former President of the Central African Republic as well as Laurent Nkunda – Congolese rebel leader and CNDP Chairman, before Rwandan courts and tribunals. In 2003, and again in 2004, he was elected President of the Association of Defence Counsel practicing before the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ADC-ICTY). He is on the Executive Board of the International Criminal Defence Attorneys Association (ICDAA) as well as a member of the International Criminal Bar (ICB). He is regularly invited as guest speaker and lecturer to address groups of Judges, military officers, legal professionals and students from numerous states. In 2007 and 2008, he was lecturer in international criminal law at the University Center for International Humanitarian Law (UCIHL / CUDIH) in Geneva.
In parallel to his international legal practice, Me Bourgon recently held the position of Senior Director, Communications, Governmental Affairs and Strategic Planning at the International Center for Human Rights and Democratic Development (Rights and Democracy). In 2009, he was awarded the advocatus emeritus (Ad.E.) distinction by the Barreau du Québec.
Andrew Cayley
Andrew Cayley is an international criminal law specialist having defended and prosecuted at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (“ICTY”), International Criminal Court (“ICC”), Special Court for Sierra Leone (“SCSL”) and the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (“ECCC”). He also has significant domestic criminal law experience in particular before the military service courts of the United Kingdom.
He is currently Chief International Co-Prosecutor of the ECCC, the tribunal established in 2003 to bring to trial the senior leaders of Democratic Kampuchea, and those most responsible principally for the death and murder of over 1.7 million Cambodian people between 1975 and 1979.
From July 2007 to November 2009 he defended Charles Ghankay Taylor before the SCSL and acted as counsel for defendant Ivan Cermak before the ICTY. From 2005 to 2007, he was Senior Prosecuting Counsel at the ICC, where he supervised the investigation into serious human rights violations in the Darfur region of Sudan. Between 1994 and 2005, he was first Prosecuting Counsel and then Senior Prosecuting Counsel at the ICTY and appeared in six cases including the first prosecution for events in Srebrenica in July 1995, which led to the conviction of Colonel General Radislav Krstic for genocide.
Andrew Cayley previously served in the British army in the United Kingdom, Belize and Germany first as an infantry platoon commander and then as a command legal adviser and prosecuting and defence counsel before the service courts. He has written widely and presented papers at conferences and courses on international law, international criminal law and international humanitarian law. On 25 October 2011 he was shortlisted, along with three other candidates, to replace Luis Moreno Ocampo as the Prosecutor of the ICC. Andrew was called to the Bar by the Inner Temple in 2007 having previously practised as a Solicitor of the Senior Courts of England and Wales from 1989 to 2007.
Mahdev Mohan
Mahdev Mohan is an Assistant Professor of Law at the Singapore Management University where he teaches public international law and directs the Asian Peace-building & Rule of Law research programme. A former Fulbright scholar, Mahdev’s writing in the fields of international law and conflict resolution has been awarded Stanford University’s Carl Mason Franklin Jr. Prize for International Law and the Richard S. Goldsmith Research Grant for International Conflict and Negotiation. Mahdev has a background in commercial dispute resolution. He has assisted Senior Counsel in Singapore on a range of contentious and advisory matters, has served as a military prosecutor and is an international civil party lawyer representing victims of the Khmer Rouge regime at the UN-backed Khmer Rouge tribunal in Cambodia. He currently leads a study on implementation of the UN Guiding Principles in Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam, with a focus on land rights and the extractive industry. He is the co-editor of “Business & Human Rights Law in Southeast Asia – An Imperative for States & Corporations” (Routledge University Press, upcoming).
Max du Plessis
Max du Plessis is a barrister in South Africa and associate tenant at Doughty Street. He has an extensive practice in international, administrative and constitutional law; and has appeared in leading cases on international law and human rights in South Africa”s Constitutional Court and Supreme Court of Appeal (including cases on diplomatic protection, the death penalty, the duty under international law to combat corruption, and extradition and non-refoulement). He has appeared before the African Commission on Human and Peoples Rights and the SADC Tribunal, and has acted as adviser to governments and NGOs on questions of international and international criminal law. Max has represented NGOs in South Africa in utilizing South Africa”s Implementation of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court Act in pursuing cases against individuals accused of international crimes in Zimbabwe, Rwanda, Gaza and Madagascar. He has written widely in the field of international and international criminal law. Max is an associate professor of law at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, and a senior research associate at the International Crime in Africa Programme at the Institute for Security Studies, Pretoria.
Göran Sluiter
Professor of International Criminal Law, in particular the Law of International Criminal Procedure at the University of Amsterdam and lawyer at Böhler advocaten, Amsterdam. From 2002 to 2010 he was a judge at the Utrecht and The Hague District Courts. In the latter capacity, Sluiter sat on the Van Anraat case, the first genocide case in the Netherlands. Previously, he worked as a Senior Lecturer in Criminal Law at the University of Amsterdam and a Lecturer in International Law at Utrecht University. He is the co-founder and co-editor (with Prof. André Klip) of the series Annotated Leading Cases of International Criminal Tribunals, the co-editor (with C. Stahn) of The Emerging Practice of the International Criminal Court (Brill, forthcoming 2008) and the co-editor (with S. Vasiliev) of International Criminal Procedure: Towards a Coherent Body of Law (CMP, 2009). He is also the author of International Criminal Adjudication and the Collection of Evidence: Obligations of States (Intersentia, 2003), the co-author (with Alexander Zahar) of International Criminal Law: A Critical Introduction (Oxford University Press, 2008). He has published an extensive number of articles in journals, including the Journal of International Criminal Justice and International Criminal Law Review, where he serves as a member of the editorial committee and a member of the editorial board respectively.
David Tolbert
David Tolbert was appointed president of the International Center for Transitional Justice as of March 2, 2010. Previously he served as registrar (assistant secretary-general) of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon and prior to that was assistant secretary-general and special expert to the United Nations secretary-general on United Nations Assistance to the Khmer Rouge Trials.
From 2004 to 2008 Mr. Tolbert served as deputy chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY). He had previously been the deputy registrar of the ICTY and at an earlier time served at the ICTY as chef de cabinet to President Gabrielle Kirk McDonald and Senior Legal Adviser, Registry, serving a total of 9 years at the ICTY.
From 2000 to 2003 Mr. Tolbert held the position of executive director of the American Bar Association’s Central European and Eurasian Law Initiative, which manages rule-of-law development programs throughout Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union. He also held the position of chief, General Legal Division of the United Nations Relief Works Agency in Vienna, Austria, and Gaza. In addition Mr. Tolbert taught international law and human rights at the post-graduate level in the United Kingdom and practiced law for many years in the United States.
David Tolbert was Jennings Randolph Senior Fellow at the United States Institute of Peace and served as a member of the American Society of International Law Task Force on United States Policy Toward the International Criminal Court (ICC) during 2008 and 2009. He has a number of publications on international criminal justice, the ICTY, and the ICC, in the Harvard Human Rights Journal, The Fletcher Forum of World Affairs, and other journals and books. Mr. Tolbert frequently lectures and makes public appearances on international justice issues. He also represented the ICTY in the discussions leading up to the creation of the ICC and the Rome Conference and served as an expert to the ICC Preparatory Committee Inter-Sessional meetings.
Arnold Tsunga
Arnold Tsunga, a highly experienced lawyer is the Director of the Africa Programme of the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ). He is the founding Executive Director of Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights and a past Executive Secretary of the Law Society of Zimbabwe. He sits on a number of Boards of non-profit organizations where he provides leadership on a voluntary basis including being the vice president of the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH); a board member of the Martin Ennals Award Foundation (MEA); Advisory Committee member for the Africa Division of Human Rights Watch (HRW); Board member Lawyers for Human Rights (LHR) South Africa; Board member of the Voice of The People (VOP) Trust which seeks to establish an independent broadcaster in Zimbabwe; past Chairperson of the CRISIS COALITION in Zimbabwe and the Zimbabwe Human Rights Association (ZIMRIGHTS).Arnold has received recognition for his role in promoting and protecting human rights winning some awards such as the Outstanding Chairperson in 20 years for ZIMRIGHTS in 2012; Rotary Foundation of Rotary International Paul Harris Fellowship in appreciation of tangible and significant assistance given for the furtherance of better understanding and friendly relations among peoples of the world in 2007; The Southern Illinois University School of Law 2007 Rule of Law Citation for being an example of what a lawyer should aspire to be in a community; the Human Rights Watch Human Rights Defender Award (2006-7); the Martin Ennals Award for Human Rights defenders (2006); Certificate of Special Congressional Recognition, 2006 (US Congress), Certificate of Courage in Civil Liberties (Parkinson’s Fund) (2004).
Philippa Webb
Dr. Philippa Webb has been appointed Lecturer in International Law at King’s College London. Previously she was visiting Assistant Professor in the Advanced LLM Programme at Leiden Univeristy. She served as the Special Assistant and Legal Officer to Judge Rosalyn Higgins during her Presidency of the International Court of Justice (2006-2009) and, prior to that, as the Judicial Clerk to Judges Higgins and Owada. She also has a background in international criminal law, having acted as the Associate Legal Adviser to Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo at the International Criminal Court. Philippa has worked at the UN Secretariat in New York and in the Sydney and Tokyo offices of an international law firm. She holds a doctorate and an LLM from Yale Law School as well as degrees in Law and Japanese Studies from the University of New South Wales in Australia. She is a senior member of the Editorial Committee of the Journal of International Criminal Justice.
Miša Zgonec-Rožej
Dr. Miša Zgonec-Rožej is currently an associate fellow in international law at Chatham House and a teaching fellow at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. She was formerly a legal advisor in the international justice team at Amnesty International, in the International Secretariat in London, legal officer in the Chambers of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, where she worked on the Slobodan Milošević case, legal assistant to the former President of the International Court of Justice, Judge Shi, and the former Vice-President of the Court, Judge Al-Khasawneh, and a lecturer at the Faculty of Law, University of Ljubljana in Slovenia. She has also been working as a consultant in several cases before the English and European Union courts involving challenges to the implementation of the Al-Qaida and Taliban sanctions regime. She holds a PhD from the Faculty of Law, University of Ljubljana, on the limits of the United Nations Security Council’s powers and an LL.M. from Columbia University School of Law, New York. Miša was a member of the International Law Association’s Committee on the International Criminal Court and is currently a member of the Committee on the Use of Force. She is also the author of several manuals on international criminal law and human rights, including the International Bar Association’s manual on international criminal law. She regularly acts as a trainer and consultant on international law issues.
