Trial Chamber I
Freetown

 

Justice Pierre G. Boutet (Canada), Presiding Judge
Appointed by the Secretary-General of the United Nations

Prior to his appointment by the United Nations as a Special Court Judge in December, 2002, Justice Pierre G. Boutet had served in the Canadian Forces as a Legal Officer occupying various positions and completed his career at the rank of Brigadier-General.

In 1982, Justice Boutet became a Military Judge, assumed the position of Deputy Chief Military Trial Judge in 1986 and was appointed Chief Military Trial Judge in 1987. As a Judge, he participated in and presided over numerous trials in Canada and in many other parts of the world, particularly in Europe and the Middle East.

In 1993, on promotion, he became the Judge Advocate General (JAG) of the Canadian Forces and was responsible for the provision of legal advice and legal services to the Department of National Defence and the Canadian Forces. He used his position to increase awareness of international humanitarian law in the Canadian Forces and in Canada. He has been a member of the Board of Directors of the International Society for Military Law and the Law of War since 1996.

 

Justice Benjamin Mutanga Itoe (Cameroon)
Appointed by the Secretary-General of the United Nations

Justice Benjamin Mutanga Itoe was Deputy Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Cameroon, and President of the Court’s administrative branch. Judge Itoe became Procurator General of the Bamenda Judicial Province in 1972, a post he held for nine years. During that time he was a member of the country’s National Law Reform Commission and helped draft Cameroon’s Criminal Procedure Code. In 1983 he became Deputy Director of Control of Judicial Services in the Ministry for the whole country.

From 1984, Justice Itoe held a series of ministerial positions in the Government of Cameroon, including Minister of Transport in 1984, Minister of Justice in 1985 and Minister of Tourism in 1989. In 1998 he was appointed as a Supreme Court judge. Judge Itoe was conferred with the honour of Cameroonian Knight of the National Order of Valour in 1985 and Officer of The National Order of Valour in 1997.

 

Justice Rosolu John Bankole Thompson (Sierra Leone)
Appointed by the Government of Sierra Leone

Justice Rosolu John Bankole Thompson was elected Presiding Judge of the Special Court’s Trial Chamber on 2 December 2002. He was a Sierra Leone High Court judge from 1981 to 1987. At Eastern Kentucky University, USA, he is a professor at in the Department of Criminal Justice and Police Studies and Dean of the Graduate school.

Justice Thompson was called to the UK Bar in 1971. He then returned to Sierra Leone where he practiced as State Attorney rising to the rank of Principal State in the Attorney General’s Office. He held that post from 1971 to 1977 at the same time working on his Doctorate degree in Law at Cambridge, which he obtained in 1976. From 1977 to 1981, Justice Thompson served as Legal Officer for the Mano River Union, an economic grouping of the nations of Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea. He was also a founder member of the Sierra Leone Law Reform Commission.