Kuniko Ozaki

Kuniko Ozaki (尾崎久仁子, Ozaki Kuniko), (born 1956^[1]) is a judge of the International Criminal Court and is the Presiding Judge of Trial Chamber V, constituted to try the cases against four Kenyan nationals.

Early life and career

Ozaki graduated from Tokyo University in 1978 and, in 1982, was awarded an M. Phil. in International Relations at Oxford University.^[1]

Afterwards, she worked in several positions for the Japanese Foreign Ministry.^[1]

From 2006 to 2009, she worked for the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime where she was a Director for Treaty Affairs.^[1]

Besides, she has worked as a professor of international law at Tohoku University and at other universities. She also has written on international criminal law and other fields of law.^[1]

Judge of the International Criminal Court, 2009-present

On 20 January 2010, Ozaki assumed her position as a judge in the Trial Division of the International Criminal Court. While she is no qualified lawyer, she had stressed her experience in lecturing in international law and her time at Japan’s Ministry of Justice in responses to a CICC questionnaire at the time of her 2009 election.^[2] She was elected for a term that lasts until 11 March 2018.^[1]

Ozaki was assigned to Trial Chamber V which is to try four Kenyan nationals for crimes against humanity. She was elected Presiding Judge.^[3][4] She is also hearing the concurrent trial of Jean-Pierre Bemba, a Congolese politician, for crimes against humanity in Trial Chamber III.^[5]

In October 2013, Ozaki notably gave a dissenting opinion on the court’s majority ruling that conditionally excused President Uhuru Kenyatta of Kenya from attending all the sittings of his trial in The Hague, criticizing the decision of going against the provisions of the Rome Statute.^[6] In a September 2014 ruling, the Chamber presided by Ozaki ordered that Kenyatta should physically appear before the court, making him the first head of state to do so.^[7]

References