ICC Elects Judges and Proceeds Towards March 11 Start

During its Assembly of States Parties (ASP) meeting the International Criminal Court has continued preparations towards its inauguration on March 11 at its seat in the Hague with the election of key officials, including judges. The ASP elected eighteen judges, who included the presidents of the current war crimes tribunals for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) and Rwanda. The two candidates to secure the most votes were temporary trial judges for the ICTY: Maureen Harding Clark of Ireland and Fatoumata Dembele Diarra of Mali. Other elected judges included ICTY president Claude Jorda of France, and Canadian diplomat Philippe Kirsch, who chaired a ICC preparatory commission that led to the Rome statute. Other successful candidates came from Bolivia, Brazil, Britain, Costa Rica, Cyprus, Finland, Germany, Ghana, Italy, Latvia, Samoa, South Africa, South Korea and Trinidad and Tobago…[more]