Bertram Schmitt (born September 9, 1958) is a German

jurist A jurist is a person with expert knowledge of law; someone who analyses and comments on law. This person is usually a specialist legal scholar, mostly (but not always) with a formal qualification in law and often a legal practitioner. In the Uni ...

. He was a judge at the

Bundesgerichtshof The Federal Court of Justice (german: Bundesgerichtshof, BGH) is the highest court in the system of ordinary jurisdiction (''ordentliche Gerichtsbarkeit'') in Germany, founded in 1950. It has its seat in Karlsruhe with two panels being situat ...

and has been a judge of the International Criminal Court since 2015.

Career

Early career

Between 2005 and 2015, Schmitt served as judge at the

Federal Court of Justice The Federal Court of Justice (german: Bundesgerichtshof, BGH) is the highest court in the system of ordinary jurisdiction (''ordentliche Gerichtsbarkeit'') in Germany, founded in 1950. It has its seat in Karlsruhe with two panels being situat ...

(BGH), Germany's supreme court for civil and criminal matters. In 2009, Schmitt was appointed as an ad-hoc judge at the

European Court of Human Rights The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR or ECtHR), also known as the Strasbourg Court, is an international court of the Council of Europe which interprets the European Convention on Human Rights. The court hears applications alleging that a ...

(ECHR). From 2009, he represented Germany on the

Eurojust Eurojust is an agency of the European Union (EU) dealing with judicial co-operation in criminal matters among agencies of the member states. It is seated in The Hague, Netherlands. Established in 2002, it was created to improve handling of serio ...

Joint Supervisory Body in The Hague. Since 2000, Schmitt has been an

adjunct professor An adjunct professor is a type of academic appointment in higher education who does not work at the establishment full-time. The terms of this appointment and the job security of the tenure vary in different parts of the world, however the genera ...

for

criminal law Criminal law is the body of law that relates to crime. It prescribes conduct perceived as threatening, harmful, or otherwise endangering to the property, health, safety, and moral welfare of people inclusive of one's self. Most criminal law i ...

criminal procedure Criminal procedure is the adjudication process of the criminal law. While criminal procedure differs dramatically by jurisdiction, the process generally begins with a formal criminal charge with the person on trial either being free on bail or ...

and

criminology Criminology (from Latin , "accusation", and Ancient Greek , ''-logia'', from λόγος ''logos'' meaning: "word, reason") is the study of crime and deviant behaviour. Criminology is an interdisciplinary field in both the behavioural and so ...

at the

University of Würzburg The Julius Maximilian University of Würzburg (also referred to as the University of Würzburg, in German ''Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg'') is a public research university in Würzburg, Germany. The University of Würzburg is one of ...

. He is one of two authors of the standard German commentary on criminal procedure, which includes the annotation of the

European Convention on Human Rights The European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR; formally the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms) is an international convention to protect human rights and political freedoms in Europe. Drafted in 1950 by t ...

(ECtHR). In 2010, he unsuccessfully ran against

Angelika Nußberger Angelika Helene Anna Nußberger (born 1 June 1963 in Munich) is a German professor of law and scholar of Slavic studies, and was the judge in respect of Germany at the European Court of Human Rights from 1 January 2011 to 31 December 2019; from 2 ...

in the election to succeed

Renate Jaeger Renate Jaeger (born 30 December 1940) is a German lawyer and a former List of judges and sections of the European Court of Human Rights, judge of the European Court of Human Rights. Her term at the Court expired on 30 December 2010. Early life Ja ...

as the judge representing Germany at the

Judge of the International Criminal Court, 2015-present

In December 2014, Schmitt was proposed as a judge at the International Criminal Court by the German government. On December 10, 2014, he was elected in the sixth ballot and assumed office on March 11, 2015. He serves in the trial division of the court. In his capacity as judge on the Trial Chamber VII, Schmitt in 2017 added a year to

Jean-Pierre Bemba Jean-Pierre Bemba Gombo (born 4 November 1962) is a politician in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. He was one of four Vice-Presidents of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, vice-presidents in the transitional government of the Democrat ...

's 18-year jail term following his conviction for attempting to bribe witnesses during his war crimes trial.ICC gives Jean-Pierre Bemba extra year in prison
''

Al Jazeera Al Jazeera ( ar, الجزيرة, translit-std=DIN, translit=al-jazīrah, , "The Island") is a state-owned Arabic-language international radio and TV broadcaster of Qatar. It is based in Doha and operated by the media conglomerate Al Jazeera ...

'', March 22, 2017.

References

1958 births Living people German legal scholars International Criminal Court judges 21st-century German judges German judges of international courts and tribunals {{Germany-law-bio-stub