Tuesday 22 February 2011

Bert Swart RIP

Judge Bert Swart has passed away. Bert was a distinguished academic who became an international criminal judge. Most recently, he was a member of the Trial Chamber of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon. Only a week ago, President Cassese asked the Secretary-General of the United Nations to designate a replacement, given Bert's lengthy illness.
Bert studies law at the University of Nijmegen, the Netherlands, between 1959 and 1964, and the University of Poitiers, France, between 1964 and 1965. He was Professor of Criminal Law and Criminal Procedure at the University of Utrecht between 1980 and 1996. He has appointed Professor of International Criminal Law (Van Hamel Chair) at the University of Amsterdam in 1996, and I believe that he retired from that position only a year ago. Bert was a member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences.
Before joining the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, Bert was an an litem judge at the International Criminal Tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda. He served on the Trial Chamber in the Hadzihasanovic et al. case.

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