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Bertram Schmitt

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Bertram Schmitt
Judge of the International Criminal Court
Assumed office
11 March 2015
Nominated byGermany
Appointed byAssembly of States Parties
Personal details
Born (1958-09-09) 9 September 1958 (age 66)
Dieburg, Hesse, West Germany
(now Germany)
Alma materGoethe University Frankfurt

Bertram Schmitt (born September 9, 1958) is a German jurist. He was a judge at the Bundesgerichtshof and has been a judge of the International Criminal Court since 2015.

Career

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Early career

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Between 2005 and 2015, Schmitt served as judge at the Federal Court of Justice (BGH), Germany's supreme court for civil and criminal matters.

In 2009, Schmitt was appointed as an ad-hoc judge at the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR). From 2009, he represented Germany on the Eurojust Joint Supervisory Body in The Hague.

Since 2000, Schmitt has been an adjunct professor for criminal law, criminal procedure and criminology at the University of Würzburg. He is one of two authors of the standard German commentary on criminal procedure,[1] which includes the annotation of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECtHR). In 2010, he unsuccessfully ran against Angelika Nußberger in the election to succeed Renate Jaeger as the judge representing Germany at the European Court of Human Rights.[2]

Judge of the International Criminal Court, 2015-present

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In December 2014, Schmitt was proposed as a judge at the International Criminal Court by the German government.[3] On December 10, 2014, he was elected in the sixth ballot,[4] and he assumed office on March 11, 2015.[5] He serves in the trial division of the court.

In his capacity as judge on the Trial Chamber VII, Schmitt in 2017 added a year to Jean-Pierre Bemba's 18-year jail term following his conviction for attempting to bribe witnesses during his war crimes trial.[6]

In September 2023, Russia issued an arrest warrant for Schmitt on unspecified charges, allegedly in retaliation for the ICC having issued a warrant against President Vladimir Putin.[7]

His nine-year term at the ICC ended in March 2024, but he is continuing in office pursuant to Article 36 (10) of the Rome Statute to complete the trial of Alfred Yekatom and Patrice-Edouard Ngaïssona.[5][8][9]

References

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  1. ^ Lutz Meyer-Goßner / Bertram Schmitt: Strafprozessordnung: StPO - Gerichtsverfassungsgesetz, Nebengesetze und ergänzende Bestimmungen, 58. Auflage 2015, ISBN 978-3-406-67500-3.
  2. ^ "Election of a judge to the European Court of Human Rights in respect of Germany" (PDF). Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe. 22 April 2010. Retrieved 21 December 2010.
  3. ^ Nominations Archived 2014-08-21 at the Wayback Machine. Assembly of States Parties. Last seen May 7, 2014.
  4. ^ 2014 - Election of six judges - Results Archived 2015-06-26 at the Wayback Machine. Assembly of States Parties. Last seen December 13, 2014.
  5. ^ a b "Judge Bertram Schmitt". International Criminal Court. Retrieved 30 August 2024.
  6. ^ ICC gives Jean-Pierre Bemba extra year in prison Al Jazeera, March 22, 2017.
  7. ^ Chiappa, Claudia (25 September 2023). "Russia puts international court's top leadership on wanted list". Politico.
  8. ^ "Six new judges sworn in today at the seat of the International Criminal Court". International Criminal Court. 8 March 2024. Retrieved 30 August 2024.
  9. ^ @IntlCrimCourt (March 8, 2024). "#ICC judge Bertram Schmitt will continue in office" (Tweet) – via Twitter.