Judge Carmel (Lino) Agius was today elected by acclamation as President of the United Nations International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) for a two year-term effective November 17.

He had been serving as vice-President of the ICTY for the past four years. He is the first Maltese judge to be ever elected President of an international court or tribunal.

Judge Lino Agius

Judge Agius is currently an Appeals Chamber judge of both the ICTY and the ICTR (Rwanda Tribunal)

He was first elected by the UN General Assembly as permanent judge of the ICTY in 2001 and was re-elected in 2004.

Between 2003 and 2010 he was presiding judge of Trial Chamber II of the ICTY during which time he presided over some of the major trials.

Since 2010 he has dealt with several appeals from both the ICTY and the ICTR presiding over some of them. He will now preside over all pending appeals.

As President of the ICTY, Judge Agius will report to and address both the Security Council and the General Assembly of the UN. He is expected to make his first address to the Security Council on December 9.

Judge Daqun Liu (China) was elected vice-President of the ICTY.