Judge Liu Daqun

China
Judge Liu Daqun

Date of initial election to the judicial roster: 20 December 2011

Current term: 1 July 2024 – 30 June 2026

Judge Liu Daqun has been a Judge of the Mechanism since it commenced operations in July 2012. In this capacity, he has adjudicated a variety of matters as a Single Judge, including the Jojić & Radeta and Šešelj et al. contempt cases, and as a member of the Appeals Chamber.

From 2000 until 2017, Judge Liu served as a Judge of the ICTY. He presided over the trial chambers in the Blagojević & Jokić, Halilović, and Naletilić & Martinović cases. From 2005, Judge Liu sat on numerous appeals from both the ICTR and the ICTY and presided over the Gatete and Šainović et al. cases. He also served as the final Vice‑President of the ICTY from November 2015 until the Tribunal’s closure in December 2017.

Earlier in his career, Judge Liu held a variety of positions within the Chinese Foreign Ministry, culminating in his appointment in 1999 as Ambassador of the People’s Republic of China to Jamaica and as Permanent Representative of the People’s Republic of China to the International Seabed Authority. He was also Deputy Head and Chief Negotiator of the Chinese delegation to the Rome Conference on the establishment of the International Criminal Court.

Judge Liu regularly lectures across China and internationally on international criminal law. He was appointed a Professor of International Law at China’s University of Law and Political Science in 1994 and a Professor at the Centre of Cooperative Innovation and Judicial Civilization of the same University in 2013. Judge Liu holds positions at the Law School of Wuhan University (since 1997) and the China Foreign Affairs University (since 1998). In addition, he is the author of numerous publications in the areas of international criminal law and international humanitarian law.

Judge Liu holds a bachelor’s degree in English from the Foreign Language Institute in Beijing, China (1977); a certificate in international law from the college of the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs (1978); and a master's degree in international law and international relations from Tufts University, United States of America (1986). He is also a member of the Permanent Court of Arbitration and the Institut de Droit International. He is fluent in English and Chinese.