O-Gon Kwon

O-Gon Kwon (born 12 September 1953) is a noted international South Korean judge, best known for being one of the three judges in the trial of Slobodan Milošević. He also sat on the bench for the trial of former Bosnian Serb leader, Radovan Karadžić.^[1][2]

Early life and education

A judge at the Seoul District Court in 1979 and 1980, Kwon 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, 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.

Kwon holds an LL.B. (1976) and an LL.M. (1983) from 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. He received a “Moran” National Order of Merit from the President of South Korea in September 2008.^[3]

Career

Judge and Vice-President

The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (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 attrocities 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.^[4][5][6]

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.^[6][7]

He was re-elected to a new two-year term as Vice President in November 2009.^[8]

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 selecting candidates for the International Criminal Courts and promote political impartiality which has not always been present in the previous selections carried out at the United Nations' General Assembly. Each member being an experienced veteran in the field of international law and legal procedure, the panel is to sift candidates through transparent and unbiased procedures that incorporate the global perspectives of each member. The members represent the continent of their origin, and Judge O-Gon Kwon is the Panel member representing Asia.^[9]

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.^[10][11][12]

Presiding Judge for the Trial Against Radovan Karadžić

Judge Kwon served as the Presiding Judge for the case of former Bosnian Serb leader, Radovan Karadžić,^[1]and handed him a 40 year sentence on 24 March 2016.^[13]

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 ^[6]

Qualifications^[2]

• LL.B. (1976) Seoul National University Faculty of Law, Valedictorian
• LL.M. (1983) Seoul National University Graduate School of Law
• Passed the Korean Bar with the highest score (1977)
• Took Bar Apprenticeship in the Judicial Research and Training Institute at the Supreme Court of Korea (1979).
• LL.M. (1985) Harvard Law School
• 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 Kwon, O-G. (2007). "The Challenge of an International Criminal Trial as Seen from the Bench". Journal of International Criminal Justice. 5 (2): 360–376. doi:10.1093/jicj/mql094. 

Awards

• “Moran” National Order of Merit (2008) from the President of the Republic of Korea.^[2]

References

External links

• The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY)