Desmond Lorenz de Silva

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This article is about the British lawyer and QC. For the Sri Lankan entertainer, see Desmond de Silva.

Sir Desmond Lorenz de Silva, QC, KStJ, (born 13 December 1939) is a prominent British lawyer, and former United Nations Chief War Crimes Prosecutor in Sierra Leone.

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[edit] Family background

Sir Desmond is of Sri Lankan and Anglo / Scottish origins and comes from a family of lawyers. He married HRH Princess Katarina Karadjordjevic of Yugoslavia on 5 December 1987. They have one daughter, Victoria Marie Esmé Margarita, born on 6 September 1991.[1] Sir Desmond has one sister Helga De Silva whose son, Detmar Blow, was married to the fashion icon Isabella Blow. [1]

[edit] Career

Sir Desmond was called to the Bar in the Middle Temple in London in 1964, and appointed Queens Counsel in 1984. His Chambers are at 2 Paper Buildings in London and include six QCs and fifty one junior counsel. Sir Desmond is a member of the Criminal Bar Association and the International Association of Prosecutors. In 2002, the UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan appointed him as Deputy Prosecutor for the International Criminal Tribunal for Sierra Leone, at rank of Assistant Secretary-General. Annan later promoted Sir Desmond to the post of Chief Prosecutor with higher rank of Under Secretary-General in 2005.He brought about the arrest of Charles Taylor, the former President of Liberia, who currently is on trial at the Hague.

In 1985 Sir Desmond was sent as an envoy by the United Nations Development Programme to persuade Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica and his government to surrender indicted war criminals and to fulfil Serbias obligation to the international community.[2]

Sir Desmond’s breadth of legal expertise includes War Crimes, Espionage Trials, Treason, Drugs, Terrorism, Human Rights, White Collar Fraud and Sports law. His clients have included , Harry Redknapp, John Terry, Ron Atkinson, Hans Segers, Lawrence Dallaglio, Graham Rix, Lee Bowyer, Jamie Osborne and Jaqui Oliver [3]. He is also a member of the Governing Council of the Manorial Society.[4]

[edit] Honours

Sir Desmond was knighted in the British New Years Honours List of 2007, and is also a Knight of the British Most Venerable Order of Saint John, and a Knight Commander of the Sacred Military Constantinian Order of Saint George[5], in its Royal Order of Francis I.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Blood Royal - From the time of Alexander the Great to Queen Elizabeth II, by Charles Mosley, published for Ruvigny Ltd., London, 2002 (page 288) (ISBN 0-9524229-9-9)