Mechanism Prosecutor designates Officers-in-charge for Arusha and Hague branches and visits Den Haag Mayor’s office

The Prosecutor of the Mechanism for International Criminal Tribunals, Mr Hassan B. Jallow, has designated Mr Mathias Marcussen, the Senior Legal Officer of the Mechanism OTP Hague Branch, as the Officer-in-Charge of the OTP pursuant to the Statute of the Mechanism.

Mr Marcussen is a lawyer from Denmark. Prior to taking up the position as Senior Legal Officer, he served various capacities in the United Nation International Criminal Tribunals for Rwanda and Yugoslavia ("ICTR" and "ICTY"). In 1996 he was seconded by the Danish Government to the ICTR in Kigali, Rwanda. He served as a Legal Advisor until 1999, when he was posted to The Hague to work on the appeals in the first ICTR cases (the Akayesu and Kambanda cases). He served as Appeals Counsel on a number of ICTR appeals.

In 2002 he became an Appeals Counsel at the ICTY in several cases. In 2005, Mr. Marcussen took up a position as Trial Attorney. In this capacity he was a member of the trial teams prosecuting five high ranking Serb officials for crimes in Kosovo (the Milutinović et al case) and the leader of a Serbian nationalistic party who is charged with crimes in Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Serbia (the Šešelj case).

In 2010 he was promoted to Senior Trial Attorney and took responsibility for completion of the trial against Vojislav Šešelj. After completing the Šešelj trial, Mr. Marcussen served as Senior Appeals Counsel, with responsibility for the appeals in the Stanišić & Simatović case, which concern two senior state security officers from Serbia and the Prlić et al. case, which concerns 6 Croatian politicians and police and military officers.

The recent appointment of Mr Marcussen follows the earlier appointment of Mr Richard Karegyesa as Senior Legal Officer and his designation as Officer-in-Charge of the Arusha Branch of the Mechanism OTP by the Mechanism Prosecutor. Prior to his appointment to the Mechanism, Mr Karegyesa was the Chief of Prosecutions of the ICTR in Arusha responsible for overseeing and directing prosecutions of all cases at the ICTR between 2008 and 2013. Mr Karegyesa was also the Senior Trial Attorney who led the prosecution in a number of cases at the ICTR including the Cyangugu case, Gacumbitsi, Simba and Gatete cases.

In a related development, Prosecutor Jallow of the Mechanism paid a courtesy call on the office of the Lord Mayor of the City of Den Haag on 6 September 2013. Prosecutor Jallow was received at the Mayor’s office by the Director of International Affairs and Diplomacy, Mr Willem Post. Prosecutor Jallow thanked Mr Post for giving him the opportunity to meet with officials at the Lord Mayor’s office as part of his familiarization tour of the City of Den Haag. Mr Post welcomed Prosecutor Jallow to the City and thanked him for the initiative. He said that the meeting provided him with an opportunity to meet Prosecutor Jallow in person and to see how best the Mayor’s office can be of help to the Mechanism. Mr Post further said that the City of Den Haag was honoured to host yet another important international institution in The Hague in addition to the 160 other international institutions and organizations that call the City their home.

In the course of the short visit, Mr Post raised the possibility for Prosecutor Jallow’s involvement in events organized by the Lord Mayor’s office as part of its outreach activities. Prosecutor Jallow affirmed his willingness to work with the Lord Mayor’s office in those activities and thanked Mr Post for the hospitality extended to him during the visit before leaving.

Prosecutor Jallow was accompanied to the Lord Mayor’s office by Mr Richard Karegyesa and Mr Mathias Marcussen, Officers-in-Charge of the Mechanism OTP Arusha and Hague Branches respectively, and his Special Assistant for the Mechanism Mr Abubacarr Tambadou.