Ebun Francis || Nigeria’s Chile Eboe-Osuji has been elected President of the International Criminal Court (ICC) in the Netherlands.
Eboe-Osuji, who is 55-year-old and from Imo State, graduated with a Law Degree (LL.B) from the University of Calabar in 1985.
He also has a master of laws (LL.M) at the McGill University in Canada.
The news of Osuji’s election was first broken by Prof Chidi Odinkalu on his Twitter handle on Sunday afternoon.
In a statement confirming the election, the court said: “the judges of the International Criminal Court (ICC), sitting in a plenary session, elected Judge Chile Eboe-Osuji (Nigeria) as President of the Court for a three-year term with immediate effect”.
In his response, Osuji said he was encouraged by the decision of his peers to trust such responsibility on his shoulders and was looking forward to working with them.
He said, “I am deeply honoured to have been elected by my peers as President of the International Criminal Court. As I take up my duties, I feel encouraged that I am able to rely on the wide experience of the two Vice-Presidents, Judge Robert Fremr and Judge Marc Perrin de Brichambaut, both of whom I have closely worked with previously.” Eboe-Osuji said.
“I also look forward to collaborating with the Assembly of States Parties, civil society and the international community at large, acting together to strengthen and reinforce the Rome Statute system, the 20th anniversary of the adoption of which we celebrate this year.
“I am also grateful to the previous President, Judge Silvia Fernández de Gurmendi, and Vice-Presidents, Judges Joyce Aluoch and Kuniko Ozaki, for their work and leadership.”
The court also elected Robert Fremr of Czech Republic as the first vice-president and Marc Perrin de Brichambaut of France as the second vice-president.