Meet 3 ICC Judges who issued warrant against Netanyahu

Read the brief profiles of the three ICC judges - Judge Nicolas Guillou, Judge Reine Alapini-Gansou and Judge Beti Hohler, who were part of ICC Pre Trial Chamber I that issued warrant against Benjamin Netanyahu

Monday November 25, 2024 7:53 PM, ummid.com News Network

Meet 3 ICC Judges who issued warrants against Netanyahu

[(T) ICC Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan. (From R to L) Judge Nicolas Guillou, Judge Beti Hohler and Judge Reine Alapini-Gansou.]

The Hague: A panel of three judges at the International Criminal Court (ICC) refusing to budge despite all kind of pressure tactics and blackmailing issued arrest warrant against Benjamin Netanyahu who is currently heading the far right Zionist brutal regime in Israel on Nov 21, 2024.

The panel of three judges, known as Pre-Trial Chamber I, issued arrest warrants against Netanyahu over a range of war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Along with Netanyahu, the ICC also issued the warrants against former Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant and Hamas military commander Mohammed Deif.

The Israeli Occupation Forces have said Deif has been killed, but Hamas has so far not confirmed the Israeli claim.

Nonetheless, the ICC warrant against Netanyahu is historic as it indicts the notorious Israeli Prime Minister on the charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza, West Bank and other occupied Palestinian lands.

Baring the United States and few of its allies, majority of the world leaders - including the United Kingdom and France, have welcomed the ICC warrant against and have even vowed the arrest Netanyahu in case he visits their countries.

The ICC arrest warrant against Netanyahu was issued exactly six months after Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan made his recommendations in this regard.

Karim is a British lawyer specialising in international criminal law and international human rights law. He has served as Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) since 2021.

Here is a brief profile of the three judges - Judge Nicolas Guillou, Judge Reine Alapini-Gansou and Judge Beti Hohler, who were part of ICC Pre Trial Chamber I that made the history.

Judge Nicolas Guillou

Judge Nicolas Guillou, from France, is the president of the Pre-Trial Chamber I, which issued the arrest warrant against the Israeli leaders.

He began his term on 11 March 2024.

Guillou previously spent four years as a Pre-Trial judge at the Kosovo Specialist Chambers. He also served as chef de cabinet to the president of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (2015-2019) and liaison prosecutor at the US Department of Justice (2012-2015).

Between 2006 and 2012, Guillou worked for the French justice ministry as deputy head of the commercial law section, adviser to the minister on criminal Affairs and diplomatic adviser to the minister.

Judge Reine Alapini-Gansou

Judge Reine Alapini-Gansou, from Benin, is the second vice president of the ICC and a member of Pre-Trial Chamber I.

She was a member of the Pre-Trial Chamber that issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin in March. On 13 November, a court in Moscow ordered her arrest in absentia over what the court said was an “illegal” arrest warrant issued for Putin.

Alapini-Gansou began her term as an ICC judge on 11 March 2018.

Prior to joining the ICC, Alapini-Gansou served as chair of the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights, Africa's primary human rights body (2009-2012) and special rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders in Africa (2005- 2009 and 2012-2017).

In 2011, she was appointed as a judge at the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague, the world’s oldest international court.

Alapini-Gansou has served as a Pre-Trial judge in many cases, including situations in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Libya, Mali, Myanmar, Bolivia and Belarus.

Judge Beti Hohler

Judge Beti Hohler, from Slovenia, is a member of Pre-Trial Chamber I.

She was appointed to the chamber in October, following a sudden request for leave by her predecessor, Romanian judge Iulia Motoc, on health grounds.

Hohler is also a member of Trial Chamber V at the ICC, currently presiding over the Prosecutor v Alfred Yekatom and Patrice-Edouard Ngaissona case.

She began her term as an ICC judge on 11 March 2024. Prior to this, she served as a trial lawyer in the Office of the Prosecutor at the ICC.

Before joining the ICC in 2015, Hohler was an adviser for the EU Rule of Law Mission in Kosovo.

In February 2015, she wrote a legal and policy briefing commenting on Palestine’s accession to the ICC.

In her analysis, Hohler explained the legal consequences of Palestine’s membership, how Israel may challenge the court and the extent of the court’s jurisdiction over Israelis and non-Palestinians.

She concluded that “with Palestine’s accession to the statute, the legal framework has changed and the parties to the conflict would be wise to accept and respect that”.

Hohler began her career in Ljubljana, Slovenia, where she served at the Court of Appeals before working as a senior associate at a law firm.

She regularly trains judges and advocates. Hohler is also co-founder of the Institute for International Legal and Advocacy Training in The Hague.

[With inputs from Middle East Eye.]

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