Pierre-Richard Prosper
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Pierre-Richard Prosper was nominated by President George W. Bush on May 16, 2001 to become the second United States Ambassador-at-Large for War Crimes Issues. After being confirmed by the U.S. Senate, he was sworn in on July 13, 2001.
Prosper is currently an Attorney for the firm of Arent Fox, joining the firm on January 1, 2007 after his career in public service.
Born in Denver, Colorado in 1963, the son of two physicians who emigrated from Haiti, Pierre Prosper was raised in New York State. He graduated from Shenendehowa High School in Clifton Park, NY; Boston College and Pepperdine University School of Law.
Previously, Ambassador Prosper served as a career prosecutor at the U.S. Department of Justice where he was Special Assistant to the Assistant Attorney General for the Criminal Division in 1999. From 1999 to 2001, Ambassador Prosper was detailed to the State Department where he served as the Special Counsel and Policy Adviser to the previous Ambassador-at-Large for War Crimes Issues.
During 1996 to late 1998, Ambassador Prosper served as a war crimes prosecutor for the United Nations International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda. Appointed lead trial attorney, Ambassador Prosper successfully prosecuted the matter of the Prosecutor against Jean-Paul Akayesu, the first-ever case of genocide under the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. In the 14-month trial, he won additional life-sentence convictions for crimes against humanity and broke new ground in international law by convincing the Tribunal to recognize rape committed in time of conflict as an act of genocide and a crime against humanity.
Between 1994 and 1996, Ambassador Prosper was an Assistant United States Attorney for the Central District of California in Los Angeles. He was assigned to the Narcotics Section, Drug Enforcement Task Force, where he investigated and prosecuted major international drug cartels.
Prior to becoming an Assistant U.S. Attorney, Ambassador Prosper was a Deputy District Attorney for Los Angeles County, California between the years 1989 and 1994. His last two years were spent in the Hardcore Gang Division of the Bureau of Special Operations where he prosecuted gang-related murders.
