Chris van den Wyngaert

Christine, Baroness Van den Wyngaert (born 2 April 1952) is a Belgian jurist and judge. She served as international and comparative criminal law expert from 2009 to 2018 as a judge on the International Criminal Court.^[1] She served in the Trial Division Chamber. On 8 July 2013, Van den Wyngaert was ennobled by King Albert II of Belgium as a baroness for her services as a judge. From 2003 to 2005 she was a Judge at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, and from 2000 to 2002 an ad hoc judge on the International Court of Justice.

Baroness Christine Van Den Wyngaert
Judge of the International Criminal Court
In office 11 March 2009 – 10 March 2018
Nominated by	Belgium
Appointed by	Assembly of States Parties
Personal details
Born	(1952-04-02) 2 April 1952 (age 72) Antwerp, Belgium
Alma mater	Vrije Universiteit Brussel
Profession	Teaching, Jurist, Judge, Lawyer

Career

Early career

• 1974: Law degree from Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Belgium;^[2]
• 1970s: Alternative career as singer-songwriter, performing (among others) with Ferre Grignard and Wannes Van de Velde, and resulting in a Long Play recording;^[3][4]
• 1979: PhD in law, University of Brussels, Belgium;^[2]
• 1980: PhD thesis awarded with the Henri Rolin-prize;
• From 1985: Professor criminal law at the University of Antwerp;
• Visiting Fellow of the Centre for European Legal Studies (1994–1996) and of the Research Centre for International Law (1996–1997) at the University of Cambridge;^[5]
• 2001: Visiting professor at the University of Stellenbosch;
• 2000–2002: Ad hoc Judge at the International Court of Justice in the Yerodia case;^[2][6]

Judge at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, 2003–2009

• 2003–2005: Ad litem Judge at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia;^[2][7]
• From 17 November 2005 (term till 2009): Permanent Judge^[2][8] at the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia.

Judge of the International Criminal Court, 2009–2018

In March 2012, the Presidency of the ICC announced that Van Den Wyngaert and her fellow judges Kuniko Ozaki and Chile Eboe-Osuji would form Trial Chamber V, which was responsible for the prosecutor's investigation in Kenya. By April 2013, Van Den Wyngaert asked to be excused from hearing a crimes-against-humanity case against Uhuru Kenyatta and William Ruto after questioning the conduct of the prosecution under Fatou Bensouda.^[9]

When Congolese warlord Germain Katanga was convicted in March 2014 of being an accessory to one count of crime against humanity and war crimes including murder and pillage – only the second conviction in the 12-year history of the ICC –, Van den Wyngaert partially disagreed with her two fellow judges Fatoumata Dembele Diarra and Bruno Cotte.^[10] In her dissenting opinion, she argued Katanga's trial had lasted too long and that he should have been acquitted in 2013 along with his co-accused Mathieu Ngudjolo.^[11] She also held that Katanga was not intentionally responsible for the crimes and said it was unfair to convict him as an accessory when he had originally been charged with being central to the crimes' commission.^[11]

In June 2014 she wrote a dissenting opinion during the pre-trial of the case The Prosecutor v. Laurent Gbagbo and Charles Blé Goudé, holding she was unable to join her colleagues in their decision to confirm the charges against Laurent Gbagbo and that in her view that the evidence was still insufficient.^[12]

Other activities

Van den Wyngaert is on the steering committee for The Crimes Against Humanity Initiative, which was launched in 2008 to study the need for a new comprehensive global convention on the prevention and punishment of crimes against humanity.^[13]

She has also served as rapporteur for the International Law Association on extradition and human rights and a general reporter for the Association Internationale de Droit Pénal in Budapest relating to international cooperation to combat organized crime.

Recognition

• 2001: doctor honoris causa at the University of Uppsala;^[2]
• 2006: Human Rights prize from Liga voor Mensenrechten.^[4][14]
• 2009: doctor honoris causa at the University of Brussels (2009).^[15]