Carla Del Ponte

Carla Del Ponte (born February 9, 1947) is currently a Chief UN War Crimes Prosecutor. 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 Court. She remains the Prosecutor for the ICTY.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Del Ponte was born to Italian family in Lugano, Switzerland in 1947, Del Ponte studied law in Bern and Geneva, as well as in Britain. She obtained her LL.M. in 1972.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

After finishing her studies, Del Ponte joined a private law firm in Lugano, which she left in 1975 to set up her own company. In 1981 she was appointed investigating magistrate, and later public prosecutor at the Lugano district attorney's office. As public prosecutor, Del Ponte dealt with cases of fraud, drug trafficking, arms smuggling, terrorism and espionage.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

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" case. As a result Judge Falcone was killed by a car 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.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

After serving for five years as Switzerland's attorney general, in 1999 Del Ponte joined the ICTY and ICTR to deal with war crimes as procuror. Talking about war crimes committed during the Balkan conflicts in the 1990s, Del Ponte said in an interview in end-2001: "Justice for the victims and the survivors requires a comprehensive effort at international and national level." She saw the trial against the former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milo?evi? as very important, but she has sworn that she will not stop until all key war crimes suspects have been brought to justice.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Del Ponte was formerly married, and has one son.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

February 9: February 9 is the 40th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. There are 325 days remaining, 326 in leap years....

1947: 1947 was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will take you to calendar)....

Prosecutor: The prosecutor is the chief legal representative of the prosecution in countries adopting the common law adversarial system or the civil law inquisitorial system. The prosecution is the legal party responsible for presenting the case against an individual suspected of breaking the law in a criminal ...

Carla Del Ponte related Images and Photos (experimental)

Carla	Carla Boehm	Fluer De L'a Amie	Grand Prix de l'A.C.F. 1935
Carla Gugino	Biere de L' Éclair	Marieta de L'ull Viu	Cognac de L'Aigle
Cognac de L'Aigle	Au Fil de l'Eau II	Place De L'Opera Paris	Toilette de l'Air 1937