Chris Van Den Wyngaert

Christine, Baroness Van den Wyngaert (born 2 April 1952) is a Belgian jurist and judge. She served as international and comparative criminal law expert from 2009 to 2018 as a judge on the International Criminal Court. She served in the Trial Division Chamber. On 8 July 2013, Van den Wyngaert was ennobled by King Albert II of Belgium as a baroness for her services as a judge. From 2003 to 2005 she was a Judge at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, and from 2000 to 2002 an ad hoc judge on the International Court of Justice.

Career Early career She received a law degree from Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Belgium in 1974.

In 2001, she was Visiting professor at the University of Stellenbosch and from 2000–2002 she was an Ad hoc Judge at the International Court of Justice in the Yerodia case.

Judge at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, 2003–2009 From 2003 to 2005, she was Ad litem Judge at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia;

From 17 November 2005 until 2009 she was a permanent Judge. at the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia.

Judge of the International Criminal Court, 2009–2018 In March 2012, the Presidency of the ICC announced that Van Den Wyngaert and her fellow judges Kuniko Ozaki and Chile Eboe-Osuji would form Trial Chamber V, which was responsible for the prosecutor's investigation in Kenya. By April 2013, Van Den Wyngaert asked to be excused from hearing a crimes-against-humanity case against Uhuru Kenyatta and William Ruto after questioning the conduct of the prosecution under Fatou Bensouda.

When Congolese warlord Germain Katanga was convicted in March 2014 of being an accessory to one count of crime against humanity and war crimes including murder and pillage – only the second conviction in the 12-year history of the ICC –, Van den Wyngaert partially disagreed with her two fellow judges Fatoumata Dembele Diarra and Bruno Cotte. In her dissenting opinion, she argued Katanga's trial had lasted too long and that he should have been acquitted in 2013 along with his co-accused Mathieu Ngudjolo. She also held that Katanga was not intentionally responsible for the crimes and said it was unfair to convict him as an accessory when he had originally been charged with being central to the crimes' commission.

Other activities Van den Wyngaert is on the steering committee for The Crimes Against Humanity Initiative, which was launched in 2008 to study the need for a new comprehensive global convention on the prevention and punishment of crimes against humanity.

She has also served as rapporteur for the International Law Association on extradition and human rights and a general reporter for the Association Internationale de Droit Pénal in Budapest relating to international cooperation to combat organized crime.

Recognition 2001: doctor honoris causa at the University of Uppsala; 2009: doctor honoris causa at the University of Brussels (2009).