The Prosecution of National Leaders by International Courts
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
CRJ Seminar The Prosecution of National Leaders by International Courts By Ambassador Stephen J. Rapp Ambassador -at-Large and Head of the Office of Global Criminal Justice U.S. Department of State 12:30 pm - 2:00 pm, Monday, 26 November 2012 CUHK Graduate Law Centre, 2/F Bank of America Tower 12 Harcourt Road, Central, Hong Kong Speaker biography: Stephen J. Rapp is Ambassador-at-Large for Global Criminal Justice. Appointed by President Obama, he was confirmed by the Senate, and assumed his duties on September 8, 2009. Prior to his appointment as Ambassador-at-Large, Stephen Rapp served as Prosecutor of the Special Court for Sierra Leone, responsible for leading the prosecutions of former Liberian President Charles Taylor and other persons alleged to bear the greatest responsibility for the atrocities committed during the civil war in Sierra Leone. From 2001 to 2007, he was the Senior Trial Attorney and Chief of Prosecutions at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, personally heading the trial team that achieved convictions of the principals of RTLM radio and Kangura newspaper – the first in history for leaders of the mass media for the crime of direct and public incitement to commit genocide. Mr. Rapp was United States Attorney in the Northern District of Iowa from 1993 to 2001, where his office won historic convictions under the firearms provision of the Violence Against Women Act and the serious violent offender provision of the 1994 Crime Act. Prior to his tenure as U.S. Attorney, he worked as an attorney in private practice and served as Staff Director of the U.S. Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Juvenile Delinquency and as an elected member of the Iowa Legislature. He received his BA degree from Harvard College in 1971 and received his JD degree from Drake in 1974. In this seminar, Ambassador Rapp will talk about the prosecution of national leaders by International Courts. All are welcome! If you would like to attend, please register via http://nems.law.cuhk.edu.hk/online-registration/?event_id=292 (Registrations will be accepted on a first come first served basis.) .