O-Gon Kwon
Encyclopedia
O-Gon Kwon is a noted Korean and international judge and is one of the three judges in the trial for Slobodan Milošević
. He also sat on the bench for the trial of former Bosnian Serb leader, Radovan Karadzic
.
At the ICTY, Judge Kwon served on the bench which heard the trial of Slobodan Milošević, and has also been involved in several pre-trial proceedings, contempt trials and sentencing judgments. Currently a member of Trial Chamber II, Judge Kwon sits on the bench hearing the case of Prosecutor v. Popović et al. He is also a member of the Referral Bench, which determines whether certain cases pending before the Tribunal are suitable to be referred for trial in national courts. In addition, he is a member of the Tribunal’s Rules Committee, which is charged with proposing additions and modifications to the Rules of Procedure and Evidence. In addition to his work at the ICTY, Judge Kwon has served as a member of the Board of Editors of the Journal of International Criminal Justice (Oxford) since 2007.
Judge Kwon holds an LL.B. (1976) from Seoul National University Law School and an LL.M. (1983) from the Graduate School of Seoul National University. He took his Bar Apprenticeship in the Judicial Research and Training Institute at the Supreme Court of Korea (1979). Judge Kwon also holds an LL.M. (1985) from Harvard Law School, U.S.A. He received a “Moran” National Order of Merit from the President of the Republic of Korean in September 2008.
(ICTY) is an entity which is chartered as a court of law by the United Nations to investigate and prosecute war crimes, which occurred throughout the Balkans in the 1990s. The Tribunal adjudicated conflict attrosities such as ethnic cleansing, war crimes, genocide, and crimes against humanity. In 2001, Judge O-Gon Kwon was sworn in as Judge of the Tribunal on November 17. As one of the Tribunal's judges his responsibilities included determining the guilt or innocenence of those accused of perpetrating war crimes during the Balkan conflict, and he was tasked with passing sentence on the convicted.
By virtue of a mandate (elected by his peers), he became Vice President of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in November 2008.
He was re-elected to a new two year term as Vice President in November 2009.
Judge Kwon is the Presiding Judge for the case of former Bosnian Serb leader, Radovan Karadzic.
Slobodan Milošević
Slobodan Milošević was President of Serbia and Yugoslavia. He served as the President of Socialist Republic of Serbia and Republic of Serbia from 1989 until 1997 in three terms and as President of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia from 1997 to 2000...
. He also sat on the bench for the trial of former Bosnian Serb leader, Radovan Karadzic
Radovan Karadžic
Radovan Karadžić is a former Bosnian Serb politician. He is detained in the United Nations Detention Unit of Scheveningen, accused of war crimes committed against Bosnian Muslims and Bosnian Croats during the Siege of Sarajevo, as well as ordering the Srebrenica massacre.Educated as a...
.
Biography
A judge at the Seoul District Court in 1979 and 1980, he became Assistant Legal Advisor to the President of the Republic of Korea, a position he held until 1984. Between 1986 and 1990, he was a judge at the Seoul Criminal District Court and Judge at the Daegu High Court. From 1990 to 1992, Judge Kwon was Planning Director at the Ministry of Court Administration. From 1992 to 1993, he was a Research Judge at the Supreme Court of Korea. Between 1993 and 1999, he served as a Presiding Judge, successively in the Changwon, Suwon, and Seoul District Courts. In the meantime, he also served as Director of Research at the Constitutional Court of Korea from 1997 to 1999. He was a Presiding Judge at the Daegu High Court when elected as a Judge of the ICTY by the UN General Assembly.At the ICTY, Judge Kwon served on the bench which heard the trial of Slobodan Milošević, and has also been involved in several pre-trial proceedings, contempt trials and sentencing judgments. Currently a member of Trial Chamber II, Judge Kwon sits on the bench hearing the case of Prosecutor v. Popović et al. He is also a member of the Referral Bench, which determines whether certain cases pending before the Tribunal are suitable to be referred for trial in national courts. In addition, he is a member of the Tribunal’s Rules Committee, which is charged with proposing additions and modifications to the Rules of Procedure and Evidence. In addition to his work at the ICTY, Judge Kwon has served as a member of the Board of Editors of the Journal of International Criminal Justice (Oxford) since 2007.
Judge Kwon holds an LL.B. (1976) from Seoul National University Law School and an LL.M. (1983) from the Graduate School of Seoul National University. He took his Bar Apprenticeship in the Judicial Research and Training Institute at the Supreme Court of Korea (1979). Judge Kwon also holds an LL.M. (1985) from Harvard Law School, U.S.A. He received a “Moran” National Order of Merit from the President of the Republic of Korean in September 2008.
Judge and Vice-President
The International Criminal Tribunal for the former YugoslaviaInternational 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) is an entity which is chartered as a court of law by the United Nations to investigate and prosecute war crimes, which occurred throughout the Balkans in the 1990s. The Tribunal adjudicated conflict attrosities such as ethnic cleansing, war crimes, genocide, and crimes against humanity. In 2001, Judge O-Gon Kwon was sworn in as Judge of the Tribunal on November 17. As one of the Tribunal's judges his responsibilities included determining the guilt or innocenence of those accused of perpetrating war crimes during the Balkan conflict, and he was tasked with passing sentence on the convicted.
By virtue of a mandate (elected by his peers), he became Vice President of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in November 2008.
He was re-elected to a new two year term as Vice President in November 2009.
Independent Panel on International Criminal Court Judicial Elections
In 2011, Judge O-Gon Kwon was elected by the Coalition for the International Criminal Court as one of the five members in the Independent Panel on International Criminal Court Judicial Elections. The panel was established to adopt the responsibilities of candidate selection for the International Criminal Courts and promote impartiality which has not always been present in the previous selections carried out at the United Nations. Each member an experienced veteran in the field of international law and legal procedure, the panel is to base its selections in unbiased analysis while providing a global perspective with the five members representing their respective continents. Judge O-Gon Kwon is the Panel member representing Asia.Jurist history
- 1979 - 1980 Seoul District Court judge
- 1979 - 1984 Assistant Legal Advisor to the President of the Republic of Korea
- 1986 - 1990 Seoul Criminal District Court Judge and Judge at the Daegu High Court
- 1992 - 1993 Research Judge at the Supreme Court of Korea
- 1993 - 1999 Presiding Judge Seoul District Courts
- 1997 - 1999 Director of Research at the Constitutional Court of Korea
- 2001 Presiding Judge at the Daegu High Court when elected as a Judge of the ICTY by the UN General Assembly.
- ICTY - Judge Kwon served on the bench which heard the trial of Slobodan Milošević
Prosecutor v. Popović et al
Judge Kwon heard the case of Prosecutor v. Popović et al. The ICTY judges agreed to join the nine defendant's trials linked to Srebrenica’s massacre, who were all senior Bosnian Serb army, VRS, and police officers. Vujadin Popović - indicted for genocide, conspiracy to commit genocide, extermination, murder, persecutions, forcible transfer, deportation. Others under concurrent indicment in this case with the same or similar charges are Ljubisa Beara, Ljubomir Borovcanin, Milan Gvero, Radivoje Miletic, Drago Nikolic, Vinko Pandurevic, Zdravko Tolimir and Milorad Trbic.Judge Kwon is the Presiding Judge for the case of former Bosnian Serb leader, Radovan Karadzic.
Qualifications
- LL.B. (1976) Seoul National UniversitySeoul National UniversitySeoul National University , colloquially known in Korean as Seoul-dae , is a national research university in Seoul, Korea, ranked 24th in the world in publications in an analysis of data from the Science Citation Index, 7th in Asia and 42nd in the world by the 2011 QS World University Rankings...
Law School - LL.M. (1983) Graduate School of Seoul National UniversitySeoul National UniversitySeoul National University , colloquially known in Korean as Seoul-dae , is a national research university in Seoul, Korea, ranked 24th in the world in publications in an analysis of data from the Science Citation Index, 7th in Asia and 42nd in the world by the 2011 QS World University Rankings...
. - Took Bar Apprenticeship in the Judicial Research and Training Institute at the Supreme Court of Korea (1979).
- LL.M. (1985) from Harvard Law SchoolHarvard Law SchoolHarvard Law School is one of the professional graduate schools of Harvard University. Located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, it is the oldest continually-operating law school in the United States and is home to the largest academic law library in the world. The school is routinely ranked by the U.S...
- Kwon, O-Gon, The Challenge of an International Criminal Trial as Seen from the Bench (May 2007). Journal of International Criminal Justice, Vol. 5, Issue 2, pp. 360–376, 2007
Awards
- “Moran” National Order of Merit (2008) from the President of the Republic of Korea.