Extraordinary African Chambers seeks judges to try Habré

The Extraordinary African Chambers is currently seeking to fill the positions of president of the Extraordinary African Trial Chamber and the president of its Appeals Chamber.

The Chambers operate within the courts of Senegal and were created by the west African country and the African Union (AU) to prosecute international crimes committed in Chad between 1982 and 1990.

Former Chadian dictator Hisséne Habré is currently in pretrial detention, awaiting a possible trial date of May 2015. He is charged with crimes against humanity, torture, and war crimes.

According to the Statute of the Extraordinary African Chambers, “The judges shall be chosen from among persons of high moral character, impartiality and integrity, and shall have exercised judicial functions for a period of at least ten (10) years. The Presidents of the Extraordinary African Trial and Appeals Chambers shall possess the qualifications required by their respective States for appointment to the highest judicial offices.”

Applying candidates should be a non-Senegalese judge from another AU member state.

Ideally,the president judge would be (1) a Francophone from the same French-inspired legal system (the court uses Senegalese procedural law); with (2) substantial international criminal law experience.

Applications must be sent to the AU legal office by 28 November.