Justice Jon Kamanda, President
Appointed by the Government of Sierra Leone

Justice Kamanda holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in English and International Relations from Durham University (FBC), and a Diploma in Education from the University of Sierra Leone.

He trained as a Barrister at the Inns of Court School of Law in London, and was called to the Bar at the Middle Temple in 1975. From 1976-80 he worked as State Prosecutor in the Government Law Office, rising to the rank of Senior State Counsel. In 1980 he entered private practice in criminal law.

Justice Kamanda has served as an Appeals Court Justice in the Sierra Leone judiciary since 2004, and is the Presiding Judge in criminal appeals. He has also served as a High Court Judge in the Civil Division.

In 1982 he was elected to Parliament, and he has served as Deputy Minister of Mineral Resources and Minister of Health.

He was sworn in as a Special Court Appeals Judge in November 2007.

Justice Emmanuel Ayoola (Nigeria), Vice President
Appointed by the Secretary-General of the United Nations

Justice Emmanuel Ayoola was judge of the Supreme Court of Nigeria, President of the Seychelles Court of Appeal, and former Chief Justice of the Gambia. He has been a Vice President of the World Judge's Association, and won the UN Human Rights Fellowship award, in 1996. He is a graduate of London and Oxford Universities and has edited the Seychelles Law Digest, the Law Reports of the Gambia, and the Nigerian Monthly Law Reports. 

Justice George Gelaga King (Sierra Leone)
Appointed by the Government of Sierra Leone

Justice George Gelaga King has been President of the Sierra Leone Court of Appeal and of Court of Appeal of the Gambia. He served as Sierra Leone's Ambassador to France, Spain, Portugal and Switzerland from 1974 to 1978, and was at the same time Sierra Leone's Permanent Representative to UNESCO. Between 1978 and 1980 he served as Sierra Leone's Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the United Nations.

Justice King taught law at the Sierra Leone Law School from 1990 to 2005. He is Chairman of both the Sierra Leone Law Journal and the Gambian National Council for Law Reporting, and was a member of the Sierra Leone Council of Legal Education. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.

Justice Renate Winter (Austria)
Appointed by the Secretary-General of the United Nations

Justice Winter has previously served as international judge of the Supreme Court of Kosovo, as part of the United Nations interim civilian administration. She is an expert on family law, as well as on juvenile justice systems, women's justice issues, pedophilia, child labour and the role of the media in advocacy.

Since 1981, Justice Winter has been a Judge at the Vienna Youth Court, where she has undertaken projects to help rehabilitate youth with problems of drug addiction and mental disability. Justice Winter has also worked on projects relating to youth and child soldiers for the United Nations, including in numerous African countries. She also has dealt with issues of organized crime and restorative justice. Throughout the 1990s, Justice Winter chaired numerous international conferences on matters relating to juvenile justice and gender-related justice issues. She is currently President of the International Association of Youth and Family Court Judges.

Justice Winter joined the Special Court for Sierra Leone in 2002. She served as Acting President of the Special Court from March to May 2004.

Justice Shireen Avis Fisher (United States)
Appointed by the Secretary-General of the United Nations

Justice Shireen Avis Fisher was sworn-in on 4 May 2009.

Immediately prior to her appointment to the Special Court Justice Fisher served, from 2005 to 2008, as an International Judge of the War Crimes Chamber, Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The cases adjudicated by Justice Fisher at the Bosnia War Crimes Chamber included convictions for sexual slavery and other crimes against humanity, war crimes, and notably, the first convictions for the commission of genocide at Srebrenica. She also developed the court rules for victim and witness protections in the courtroom. She currently serves as a Commissioner on the Kosovo Independent Judicial and Prosecutorial Commission.

Justice Shireen Fisher subscribes to the Judicial Oath during Monday’s ceremony in Freetown.
Since 1986 she has also served as a Judge of General Jurisdiction Trial Courts (criminal, civil and family courts) in the U.S. state of Vermont, currently with Active-Retired Status. Justice Fisher began her legal career as a Public Defender in Vermont, with a particular focus on juvenile justice cases.

She was called to the Bar in 1976.

Justice Fisher received her Juris Doctor from the Columbus School of Law, Catholic University of America, in 1976 and an LLM in International Human Rights Law from University College London in 2001. 

She has written and lectured extensively on international law.