Antonio Cassese

Antonio Cassese was Professor of International Law at the University of Florence until 2008. He is a member of the Institut de Droit International, and former President of the Council of Europe Committee for the Prevention of Torture. He was the first President of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), serving in this capacity from 1993 to 1997 and then as the presiding judge of trial chambers until 2000. In October 2004, Cassese was appointed by United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan to be the Chairperson of the UN International Commission of Enquiry into Violations of Human Rights and Humanitarian Law in Darfur. In 2006 the United Nations Secretary-General appointed him as an independent expert tasked to review the judicial efficiency of the Special Court of Sierra Leone. In March 2009 Cassese was appointed by United Nations as judge for the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL) where he was elected President of the Tribunal.