Maltese judge elected vice-president of former Yugoslavia war crimes tribunal

This is the first time that a Maltese judge has been elected Vice-President of a United Nations international court or tribunal. At the same meeting Judge Theodor Meron (USA) was elected President of the ICTY also by acclamation.

The Minister for Justice and Home Affairs, the Hon. Carmelo Mifsud Bonnici congratulated Judge Agius on his election.

Judge Agius is currently an Appeals Chamber judge of both the ICTY and the ICTR (Rwanda Tribunal).

He was first elected by the General Assembly of the U.N. as Permanent Judge of the ICTY in 2001 and was re-elected in 2004. Between 2003 and 2010 he was Presiding Judge of Trial Chamber II of the ICTY during which time he presided over some of the major trial including the multi-accused Popovic et al which dealt with the 1995 Srebrenica genocide.

Since 2010 he has been dealing with appeals from both the ICTY and the ICTR. Presently, he is presiding over two major appeals. Since 2003 he has chaired the Rules Committee of the ICTY and was also a member of the Tribunal’s Bureau.

More recently, on behalf of the ICTY he has coordinated and brought to a conclusion the drafting of the Rules of Procedure and Evidence of the Residual Mechanism to be submitted to the UN Security Council, for eventual adoption by the judges of the Residual Mechanism. The Residual Mechanism is the body which will succeed the Tribunal.

 Prior to being elected to the Tribunal Judge Agius was a Judge in the Court of Appeal of Malta and the Constitutional Court of Malta, and was Acting Chief Justice on several occasions. He retired from the Maltese Bench in August 2010 upon reaching retiring age. Between 1999 and 2008 Judge Agius was a Member of the Permanent Court of Arbitration.

In 1998 he was Acting Head of Delegation and adviser of the Government of Malta at the United Nations Plenipotentiary Conference on the International Criminal Court held in Rome where he was actively involved in the negotiations that led to the Statute of the Court and signed the Final Document on behalf of Malta.