Carla Del Ponte

Prosecutor of the ICTY Carla Del Ponte

Carla Del Ponte (born February 9, 1947 in Lugano, Switzerland) is currently a Chief UN War Crimes Prosecutor. A former Swiss attorney general, 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 formerly married, and has one son.

Early life and education

Del Ponte was born in Lugano, Switzerland in 1947. She speaks fluent Italian, German, French and English. Del Ponte studied law in Bern and Geneva, as well as in Britain. She obtained her LL.M. in 1972.

After completing her studies, Del Ponte joined a private law firm in Lugano, leaving in 1975 to set up her own practice.

Prosecutor at the Lugano district

In 1981 she was appointed an investigating magistrate, and later public prosecutor at the Lugano district attorney's office. As public prosecutor, Del Ponte dealt with cases of money laundering, fraud, drug trafficking, arms smuggling, terrorism and espionage, often looking into the many international links forged in Swtizerland's role as a global business centre.

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". Judge Falcone was killed by a large Mafia 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. Her enemies in the Cosa Nostra call her "La Puttana" ("the whore"). She therefore became the first public figure in Switzerland to require round-the-clock protection and armour-plated car.

Career at the ICTY

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 prosecutor. In an interview in late 2001 about war crimes committed during the Balkan conflicts of the 1990s, Del Ponte said : "Justice for the victims and the survivors requires a comprehensive effort at international and national level."

On January 30th, 2007 Del Ponte announced her intention to resign as Chief Prosecutor at the ICTY at the end of the year, stating it was "time to return to normal life."

She has been nominated as Switzerland's Ambassador to Argentina from January 2008.

External links

• Ms Del Ponte prepares for the role of Swiss ambassador to Argentina
• BBC News profile on Carla Del Ponte and BBC Radio 4 documentary summary
• Blog devoted to the hunt for Radovan Karadzic
• Carla Del Ponte in debate 'Courting Justice' at International Documentary Festival Amsterdam, november 26 2006