Carla Del Ponte
Encyclopedia
Carla Del Ponte is a former Chief Prosecutor of two United Nations
international criminal law
tribunals. A former Swiss attorney general, she was appointed prosecutor
for the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia
(ICTY) and the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda
(ICTR) in August 1999, replacing Louise Arbour
.
In 2003, the U.N. Security Council removed Del Ponte as the Prosecutor for the ICTR, and replaced her there with Hassan Bubacar Jallow
in an effort to expedite proceedings in that Tribunal. She remained the Prosecutor for the ICTY until 1 January 2008, when she was succeeded by Serge Brammertz
. Del Ponte was formerly married, and has one son.
She conducted an investigation on the allegations of organ trafficking by the KLA of Serbs and other non-Albanians in Kosovo and Albania for the Parliament of Europe.
Del Ponte served as Swiss ambassador to Argentina from 2008 to February 2011.
, Switzerland
in 1947. She speaks fluent Italian
, German
, French
and English
. Del Ponte studied law in Bern and Geneva
, as well as in Britain
. She obtained her LL.M. in 1972.
After completing her studies, Del Ponte joined a private law firm in Lugano, leaving in 1975 to set up her own practice.
district attorney's office. As public prosecutor, Del Ponte dealt with cases of money laundering
, fraud
, drug trafficking, arms smuggling, terrorism
and espionage
, often looking into the many international links forged in Switzerland's role as a global business centre.
It was during that period that she and Investigative Judge Giovanni Falcone
uncovered the link between Swiss money launderers and the Italian drug trade in the so-called "pizza connection." Judge Falcone was killed by a large Mafia bomb. Del Ponte was more fortunate as the half a tonne of explosives planted in the foundations of her Palermo
home were discovered in time for her to escape the attempted assassination unhurt. Falcone's death nurtured Del Ponte's resoluteness to fight organised crime. Her enemies in the Cosa Nostra call her "La Puttana" ("the whore"). She therefore became the first public figure in Switzerland to require round-the-clock protection and armour-plated car.
, in 1999 Del Ponte joined the ICTY and ICTR to deal with war crime
s as prosecutor. In an interview in late 2001 about war crimes committed during the Balkan conflicts
of the 1990s, Del Ponte said: "Justice for the victims and the survivors requires a comprehensive effort at international and national level."
On January 30, 2007 Del Ponte announced her intention to resign as Chief Prosecutor at the ICTY at the end of the year, stating it was "time to return to normal life." She was succeeded by Serge Brammertz
on January 1, 2008.
She has been nominated as Switzerland's Ambassador to Argentina
from January 2008.
In 2005, she accused the Vatican of helping Croatia's most wanted war crimes suspect evade capture. The Croatian Bishops' Conference, which heads the Croatian Roman Catholic Church, dismissed Carla del Ponte's allegations. Its spokesman Antun Suljic said the conference "has no knowledge or indications of the whereabouts" of General Gotovina.
in London, Del Ponte was asked if she was prepared to press criminal charges against NATO personnel for alleged war crimes in Kosovo by NATO pilots and their commanders. She replied "If I am not willing to do that, I am not in the right place. I must give up my mission".
This was followed by various negative official responses, military and civilian, from the US and Canada. Del Ponte's office subsequently issued a statement, dated four days later: "NATO is not under investigation by the Office of the Prosecutor of the ICTY. There is no formal inquiry into the actions of NATO during the conflict in Kosovo".
ended in 1999. Her book created an international controversy.
The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia
had said of Del Ponte's allegations: "The Tribunal is aware of very serious allegations of human organ trafficking raised by the former Prosecutor, Carla Del Ponte, in a book recently published in Italian under her name. No evidence in support of such allegations was ever brought before the Tribunal’s judges."
On 4 April 2008 the Human Rights Watch
wrote to Kosovar Prime Minister Hashim Thaci
and Albanian Prime Minister Sali Berisha
in request to open investigations on the matter under international supervision. By 3 May both had ignored the letters and instead publicly rejected del Ponte's claims as unsubstantiated. On 5 May 2008 the Human Rights Watch called the allegations from Del Ponte's book "serious and credible" and issued a public call to Tirana
and Pristina
for cooperation.
The reported alleges the victims were more than 400 Serbs missing from the war. "Serious and credible allegations have emerged about horrible abuses in Kosovo and Albania after the war," said Fred Abrahams, HRW Senior emergencies researcher of HRW.
United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo
's published official forensic report from 2004 also confirms Del Ponte's allegations.
In 2008 the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe
authorized Carla Del Ponte to lead a formal investigation and employed a watcher to report her findings to the Parliament.
In January 2011, the EULEX mission to Kosovo announced that 5 persons were indicted for human organs trafficking. According to a draft Council of Europe report cited by The Daily Telegraph, Prime Minister Hashim Thaci was one of the key players in the traffic of organs of Serb prisoners after the 1998-99 conflict.
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
international criminal law
International criminal law
International criminal law is a body of international law designed to prohibit certain categories of conduct commonly viewed as serious atrocities and to make perpetrators of such conduct criminally accountable for their perpetration. Principally, it deals with genocide, war crimes, crimes against...
tribunals. A former Swiss attorney general, she was appointed prosecutor
Prosecutor
The prosecutor is the chief legal representative of the prosecution in countries with either the common law adversarial system, or the civil law inquisitorial system...
for the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia
International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia
The International Tribunal for the Prosecution of Persons Responsible for Serious Violations of International Humanitarian Law Committed in the Territory of the Former Yugoslavia since 1991, more commonly referred to as the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia or ICTY, is a...
(ICTY) and the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda
International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda
The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda is an international court established in November 1994 by the United Nations Security Council in Resolution 955 in order to judge people responsible for the Rwandan Genocide and other serious violations of international law in Rwanda, or by Rwandan...
(ICTR) in August 1999, replacing Louise Arbour
Louise Arbour
Louise Arbour, is the former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, a former justice of the Supreme Court of Canada and the Court of Appeal for Ontario and a former Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda...
.
In 2003, the U.N. Security Council removed Del Ponte as the Prosecutor for the ICTR, and replaced her there with Hassan Bubacar Jallow
Hassan Bubacar Jallow
Hassan Bubacar Jallow is a Gambian lawyer, politician, and jurist and has been the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda since 2003....
in an effort to expedite proceedings in that Tribunal. She remained the Prosecutor for the ICTY until 1 January 2008, when she was succeeded by Serge Brammertz
Serge Brammertz
Serge Brammertz is a Belgian jurist, and the prosecutor for the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia.Brammertz was deputy prosecutor of the International Criminal Court from 2002 to 2007...
. Del Ponte was formerly married, and has one son.
She conducted an investigation on the allegations of organ trafficking by the KLA of Serbs and other non-Albanians in Kosovo and Albania for the Parliament of Europe.
Del Ponte served as Swiss ambassador to Argentina from 2008 to February 2011.
Early life and education
Del Ponte was born in BignascoBignasco
Bignasco is a village in the district of Vallemaggia, in the canton of Ticino, Switzerland. On 22 October 2006 Bignasco lost its status as an independent municipality when together with the village of Cavergno it was incorporated into the municipality of Cevio....
, Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
in 1947. She speaks fluent Italian
Italian language
Italian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...
, German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
, French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
and English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
. Del Ponte studied law in Bern and Geneva
Geneva
Geneva In the national languages of Switzerland the city is known as Genf , Ginevra and Genevra is the second-most-populous city in Switzerland and is the most populous city of Romandie, the French-speaking part of Switzerland...
, as well as in Britain
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
. She obtained her LL.M. in 1972.
After completing her studies, Del Ponte joined a private law firm in Lugano, leaving in 1975 to set up her own practice.
Prosecutor at the Lugano district
In 1981 she was appointed an investigating magistrate, and later public prosecutor at the LuganoLugano
Lugano is a city of inhabitants in the city proper and a total of over 145,000 people in the agglomeration/city region, in the south of Switzerland, in the Italian-speaking canton of Ticino, which borders Italy...
district attorney's office. As public prosecutor, Del Ponte dealt with cases of money laundering
Money laundering
Money laundering is the process of disguising illegal sources of money so that it looks like it came from legal sources. The methods by which money may be laundered are varied and can range in sophistication. Many regulatory and governmental authorities quote estimates each year for the amount...
, fraud
Fraud
In criminal law, a fraud is an intentional deception made for personal gain or to damage another individual; the related adjective is fraudulent. The specific legal definition varies by legal jurisdiction. Fraud is a crime, and also a civil law violation...
, drug trafficking, arms smuggling, terrorism
Terrorism
Terrorism is the systematic use of terror, especially as a means of coercion. In the international community, however, terrorism has no universally agreed, legally binding, criminal law definition...
and espionage
Espionage
Espionage or spying involves an individual obtaining information that is considered secret or confidential without the permission of the holder of the information. Espionage is inherently clandestine, lest the legitimate holder of the information change plans or take other countermeasures once it...
, often looking into the many international links forged in Switzerland's role as a global business centre.
It was during that period that she and Investigative Judge Giovanni Falcone
Giovanni Falcone
Giovanni Falcone was an Sicilian/Italian prosecuting magistrate born in Palermo, Sicily. From his office in the Palace of Justice in Palermo, he spent most of his professional life trying to overthrow the power of the Mafia in Sicily...
uncovered the link between Swiss money launderers and the Italian drug trade in the so-called "pizza connection." Judge Falcone was killed by a large Mafia bomb. Del Ponte was more fortunate as the half a tonne of explosives planted in the foundations of her Palermo
Palermo
Palermo is a city in Southern Italy, the capital of both the autonomous region of Sicily and the Province of Palermo. The city is noted for its history, culture, architecture and gastronomy, playing an important role throughout much of its existence; it is over 2,700 years old...
home were discovered in time for her to escape the attempted assassination unhurt. Falcone's death nurtured Del Ponte's resoluteness to fight organised crime. Her enemies in the Cosa Nostra call her "La Puttana" ("the whore"). She therefore became the first public figure in Switzerland to require round-the-clock protection and armour-plated car.
Career at the ICTY
After serving for five years as Switzerland's attorney generalAttorney General
In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general, or attorney-general, is the main legal advisor to the government, and in some jurisdictions he or she may also have executive responsibility for law enforcement or responsibility for public prosecutions.The term is used to refer to any person...
, in 1999 Del Ponte joined the ICTY and ICTR to deal with war crime
War crime
War crimes are serious violations of the laws applicable in armed conflict giving rise to individual criminal responsibility...
s as prosecutor. In an interview in late 2001 about war crimes committed during the Balkan conflicts
Yugoslav wars
The Yugoslav Wars were a series of wars, fought throughout the former Yugoslavia between 1991 and 1995. The wars were complex: characterized by bitter ethnic conflicts among the peoples of the former Yugoslavia, mostly between Serbs on the one side and Croats and Bosniaks on the other; but also...
of the 1990s, Del Ponte said: "Justice for the victims and the survivors requires a comprehensive effort at international and national level."
On January 30, 2007 Del Ponte announced her intention to resign as Chief Prosecutor at the ICTY at the end of the year, stating it was "time to return to normal life." She was succeeded by Serge Brammertz
Serge Brammertz
Serge Brammertz is a Belgian jurist, and the prosecutor for the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia.Brammertz was deputy prosecutor of the International Criminal Court from 2002 to 2007...
on January 1, 2008.
She has been nominated as Switzerland's Ambassador to Argentina
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
from January 2008.
In 2005, she accused the Vatican of helping Croatia's most wanted war crimes suspect evade capture. The Croatian Bishops' Conference, which heads the Croatian Roman Catholic Church, dismissed Carla del Ponte's allegations. Its spokesman Antun Suljic said the conference "has no knowledge or indications of the whereabouts" of General Gotovina.
NATO
In late December 1999, in an interview with The ObserverThe Observer
The Observer is a British newspaper, published on Sundays. In the same place on the political spectrum as its daily sister paper The Guardian, which acquired it in 1993, it takes a liberal or social democratic line on most issues. It is the world's oldest Sunday newspaper.-Origins:The first issue,...
in London, Del Ponte was asked if she was prepared to press criminal charges against NATO personnel for alleged war crimes in Kosovo by NATO pilots and their commanders. She replied "If I am not willing to do that, I am not in the right place. I must give up my mission".
This was followed by various negative official responses, military and civilian, from the US and Canada. Del Ponte's office subsequently issued a statement, dated four days later: "NATO is not under investigation by the Office of the Prosecutor of the ICTY. There is no formal inquiry into the actions of NATO during the conflict in Kosovo".
Organ smuggling accusations
In 2008, Del Ponte published a book "The Hunt" in which she collected rather extensive evidence that the Kosovo Albanians were smuggling human organs of kidnapped Serbs after the Kosovo warKosovo War
The term Kosovo War or Kosovo conflict was two sequential, and at times parallel, armed conflicts in Kosovo province, then part of FR Yugoslav Republic of Serbia; from early 1998 to 1999, there was an armed conflict initiated by the ethnic Albanian "Kosovo Liberation Army" , who sought independence...
ended in 1999. Her book created an international controversy.
The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia
International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia
The International Tribunal for the Prosecution of Persons Responsible for Serious Violations of International Humanitarian Law Committed in the Territory of the Former Yugoslavia since 1991, more commonly referred to as the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia or ICTY, is a...
had said of Del Ponte's allegations: "The Tribunal is aware of very serious allegations of human organ trafficking raised by the former Prosecutor, Carla Del Ponte, in a book recently published in Italian under her name. No evidence in support of such allegations was ever brought before the Tribunal’s judges."
On 4 April 2008 the Human Rights Watch
Human Rights Watch
Human Rights Watch is an international non-governmental organization that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. Its headquarters are in New York City and it has offices in Berlin, Beirut, Brussels, Chicago, Geneva, Johannesburg, London, Los Angeles, Moscow, Paris, San Francisco, Tokyo,...
wrote to Kosovar Prime Minister Hashim Thaci
Hashim Thaci
Hashim Thaçi is the Prime Minister of Republic of Kosovo, the leader of the Democratic Party of Kosovo , and former political leader of the Kosovo Liberation Army .-Early life and education:...
and Albanian Prime Minister Sali Berisha
Sali Berisha
Sali Ram Berisha is an Albanian politician and cardiologist, currently the Prime Minister of Albania and the leader of Democratic Party of Albania ....
in request to open investigations on the matter under international supervision. By 3 May both had ignored the letters and instead publicly rejected del Ponte's claims as unsubstantiated. On 5 May 2008 the Human Rights Watch called the allegations from Del Ponte's book "serious and credible" and issued a public call to Tirana
Tirana
Tirana is the capital and the largest city of Albania. Modern Tirana was founded as an Ottoman town in 1614 by Sulejman Bargjini, a local ruler from Mullet, although the area has been continuously inhabited since antiquity. Tirana became Albania's capital city in 1920 and has a population of over...
and Pristina
Pristina
Pristina, also spelled Prishtina and Priština is the capital and largest city of Kosovo. It is the administrative centre of the homonymous municipality and district....
for cooperation.
The reported alleges the victims were more than 400 Serbs missing from the war. "Serious and credible allegations have emerged about horrible abuses in Kosovo and Albania after the war," said Fred Abrahams, HRW Senior emergencies researcher of HRW.
United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo
United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo
The United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo or UNMIK is the interim civilian administration in Kosovo, under the authority of the United Nations. The mission was established on 10 June 1999 by Security Council Resolution 1244...
's published official forensic report from 2004 also confirms Del Ponte's allegations.
In 2008 the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe
Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe
The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe , which held its first session in Strasbourg on 10 August 1949, can be considered the oldest international parliamentary assembly with a pluralistic composition of democratically elected members of parliament established on the basis of an...
authorized Carla Del Ponte to lead a formal investigation and employed a watcher to report her findings to the Parliament.
In January 2011, the EULEX mission to Kosovo announced that 5 persons were indicted for human organs trafficking. According to a draft Council of Europe report cited by The Daily Telegraph, Prime Minister Hashim Thaci was one of the key players in the traffic of organs of Serb prisoners after the 1998-99 conflict.
External links
- Feature on Carla del Ponte by the International Museum of Women
- Ms. Del Ponte prepares for the role of Swiss ambassador to Argentina
- BBC News profile on Carla Del Ponte and BBC Radio 4 documentary summary
- Blog devoted to the hunt for Radovan Karadzic
- Carla Del Ponte in debate 'Courting Justice' at International Documentary Festival Amsterdam, November 26 2006
- New Statesman article, August 14, 2008