20.02.09 - ICTR/APPOINTMENT - ICTR TRIAL ATTORNEY APPOINTED QUEEN ELIZABETH'S COUNSEL

Arusha, 20 February, 2009 (FH)-Queen Elizabeth II of Britain has appointed, Ian Morley (43), a Trial Attorney at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), to be one of her Counsel, reports Hirondelle Agency.

ICTR is trying key suspects of the 1994 genocide, which claimed, according to the United Nations, lives of about 800,000 ethnic Tutsis and moderate Hutus in the April-July slaughter.

The appointment was conveyed to Dublin-born Morley by Lord Chancellor of Great Britain, Jack Straw, on Wednesday.

This is first appointment to Queens Counsel (QC) of a member of the Bar of England and Wales on an UN international assignment.

"This is a considerable honour, not simply for me, but for the ICTR as a whole," he told Hirondelle Agency Friday.

He added: This is the first time the Queen has recognized work accomplished by the ICTR".

Mr Morley was educated in Ireland and read law at Oxford, was called by the Inner Temple of Bar of England and Wales in 1988, and the Kings Inns to the Bar of Eire in 1992.

In October 2004, for five months, he became special assistant to Steven Kay QC who was acting as amicus in the trial of former Serbian President, Slobodan Milosevic at the International Criminal Tribunal for former Yugoslavia in The Hague.

Mr Morley later joined the ICTR in March 2005, and has been highly active and has helped to present four cases, of which three have been completed.

He is also internationally well known advocacy teacher and author of the book: "The Devil's Advocate".

Mr Morley is expected to be sworn on 30 March in London before the Lord Chancellor.

The ICTR which was created in November 1994 by the UN Security Council is the first internationally recognized Tribunal to interpret the definition of genocide set forth in the 1948 Geneva Conventions.

So far, the UN Court has convicted 37 persons and acquitted six. Trials are underway for five accused in three trials.

The UN Security Council had directed ICTR to complete all pending trials by end of this year.

SC/GF

© Hirondelle News Agency

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