On October 25th the International Criminal Court (ICC) announced that the Search Committee for a new Prosecutor for the Court had recommended four individuals for this position.[1]
The four individuals are:
- Fatou B. Bensonda. From Gambia, she has served as ICC Deputy Prosecutor since November 2004. Previously she held high-level positions as legal advisor and attorney for the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) and the government of Gambia.
- Andrew T. Cayley. From the United Kingdom, he is currently a prosecutor for the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC). Previously he was a senior prosecuting counsel for the ICC, defense counsel for the Special Court for Serra Leone (SCSL) and the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), prosecuting counsel for the ICTY and an attorney with the British Army.
- Mohamed Chande Othman. From Tanzania, he is currently Chief Justice of Tanzania. Previously he was Justice on the country’s Court of Appeal and held high-legal positions with the U.N. Development Program for Cambodia, the U.N. Transitional Administration in East Timor (UNTAET), the ICTR and the High-Level Commission of Inquiry on Lebanon.
- Robert Petit. From Canada, he is currently Counsel to the Crimes Against Humanity and War Crimes Sections of Canada’s Department of Justice. Previously he served in high-legal legal positions with the ECCC, SCSL, UNTAET, ICTR and the Canadian Department of Justice.
Now the ICC’s Assembly of States Parties will endeavor to nominate and elect by consensus one of these people as the new ICC Prosecutor. That will happen at the Assembly’s meeting in December 2011.
[1] ICC Press Release, Report of the Search Committee for Prosecutor (Oct. 25, 2011). See Post: International Criminal Court: Its Upcoming Prosecutor Election (June 25, 2011).
