Defence Committee
The Defence Committee is mandated to take into consideration the interests of suspects and accused and, through a commentary, provide proposals to the Legal Advisory Committee and advise the Executive Council and the General Assembly on all matters affecting the Defence.
Training videos by the Defence Committee are available here.
Current members
BRIAN KENNEDY
Co-Chair
Brian Kennedy is recently admitted to the List of Counsel for the ICC, and is a new member of the ICCBA. Earlier in his legal career, he served as a senior prosecutor in New York City, dealing with major narcotics-related cases and serious violent crimes. Since then, for the last twenty years as defense counsel, he has handled numerous white-collar and complex criminal matters as lead trial counsel. Mr. Kennedy also frequently represents claimants in investment-related litigation, and is an arbitrator with the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority. He graduated from Georgetown University with a degree in international affairs, and from Fordham University Law School with a concentration in securities law. During law school, he also studied international law in London. Mr. Kennedy holds both U.S. and Irish citizenship, and lives in New York, New York.
JAD KHALIL
Co-Chair
Defended the Nigerian Ambassador Mr. Mennelick in front of the European Court in Brussels , currently defending Mr. Brian Burmaster against the Swiss State, defending the Lebanese exiles committee against Kuwait, assistant to the office of the Defense of the Iraqi state before the European courts. Mr Khalil is co-founder of the legal practice "Khalil's Law Office" in Beirut. Mr Khalil specialises in general criminal law, private, public and international law. Another part of his firm specialises in civil and property law. Mr Khalil was appointed a Lebanese State Lawyer by presidential decree and he acts in that capacity before the Council of State. Mr Khalil has also written two legal works, one entitled "Les troubles anormaux de voisinage en droit comparé" published in 2006 by Dar al adala, and one entitled "Les dommages des boîtes de nuit, des établissements classés et des restaurants", published in 2012 by Editions de l'Orient, Paris. He also wrote the draft law: "Code Libanais de Voisinage", which was submitted to the Ministry of Justice in 2010. He holds a Master's Degree in French Law, and a Doctorate in Lebanese Law from Saint Joseph University/Huvelin and he is fluent in Arabic, French and English. In December 2013, Mr Khalil was assigned as a co-counsel to represent the rights and interests of the Accused Hassan Habib Merhi at the STL.
IAIN EDWARDS
Member
I am a barrister at the Bar of England and Wales (practising since September 2001). Since 2009, the focus of my practice has been defending in international criminal cases. I have represented, or assisted in the representation of, clients in a total of nine cases before the ICTR, STL, IRMCT and ICC. I am currently associate counsel for Mr Ali Muhammad Ali Abd-Al-Rahman (Darfur) before the ICC, and counsel for Mr Alphonse Nteziryayo before the IRMCT. I was also ad hoc associate counsel for Mr Al-Hassan (Mali) towards the end of the prosecution case, and during the victims’ case, before the ICC. In 2016-2017, I was chair of two inaugural ICCBA committees: the Training Committee and the Professional Standards Advisory Committee. I work just as comfortably in French as I do in English, an important advantage given the often multilingual nature of the work of the ICC.
JEAN FLAMME
Member
Jean Flamme has been an attorney at the Bar of Gent ( Belgium ) since 1974. He has mainly been active in criminal law, international criminal law, torts, professional liability and commercial law. He was also active as a deputyjudge in the Tribunal of Commerce in Gent for 20 years. Jean Flamme has been the secretary-general and later the vice-president of AsF Belgium ( lawyers without borders ) for the beginning years of this NGO which he helped greatly to develop. He became, later on, the secretary-general of International Criminal Bar ( ICB ) and advocated for the creation of an official and independent Bar at the ICC. He was the first defence counsel to handle a case before the ICC ( Lubanga v/ Prosecutor ) but decided to leave the case because he did not get the sufficient means to work properly. He afterwards acted as defence counsel in the Bemba II case where he still experienced the same kind of problems to an even worse extent. He has been acting as defence counsel for several Rwandese persons accused of genocide in Belgium, France, The Netherlands and Norway and before the ICTR. He is the co-author of the text-book “Code of International Criminal Law and Procedure, annotated 2013 ( Larcier Law annotated ) and wrote a book about the genocide in Rwanda and international criminal justice under the title “Rwanda 1994, the conspiracy of the powerful ( Van Haelewyck ed. ). He also is a co-author of “defence rights, international and European developments” ( maklu ed. 2012 ) and wrote the part “The fundamental right to a full and fair defence before the ICC, on the confines of common law and roman-german law : an analysis”
ANA TUIKETEI
Member
Ana Tuiketei is a listed Counsel for the ICC and is a member of the Defense and Membership Committee- a first for the Oceania. She is also the only female Pacific Islander listed as an Arbitrator with the Court of Arbitration for Sport. She is admitted to the Tongan and Fijian Bar. She is the Deputy Director of the Institute of Small and Micro States based in the UK. She is a fellow with the Forum for International Conciliation & Arbitration. She is the only Fijian female accredited World Rugby Judicial Officer and is one of only two pacific women that are Oceania Judicial Officer. She is the only Oceania International Rugby League Independent Judicial Chair. She is also listed as an Arbitrator with International Mixed Martial Arts Federation. She is also an Arbitrator in the Fiji Employment Arbitration Court (High Court). In 2017 she was awarded the Medal of the Order of Fiji by the President of Fiji for her national contribution. She is a Heart Ambassador for the internationally recognized Sai Prema Foundation Fiji that is creating a world-class facility with the aim of providing the best possible surgery and free treatment to the children of the Pacific.
SARAH VALDURIEZ
Member
Born in France, Sarah VALDURIEZ grew up in the United States. She is bilingual. Attorney since 2009, located in Paris and then in Versailles (France), she defends her clients before national and international courts. Her experience in criminal law has led her to represent both victims and defendants, particularly in cases of terrorism and organized crime.
BERNARDO WEAVER
Member
Mr. Weaver is a seasoned litigator who has successfully defended complex criminal cases in the international arena. His fluency in five languages and admission to four jurisdictions have allowed him to represent large multinational corporations, business executives and high-ranking government officials in the span of close to two decades. Prior to becoming a Master of Laws from Harvard University, Mr. Weaver obtained a bachelor’s degree from Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio de Janeiro. He served as research assistant for U.S. Deputy Attorney General Philip Heymann, and continued his career as the registrar to the anti-corruption international tribunal of the Inter-American Development Bank, to then pursue litigation at international law firms. Throughout his career, Mr. Weaver has litigated privacy by design for Meta, responded to dawn raids in Europe, provided legal advice in white collar cases throughout Latin America and served as interlocutor in ransomware cases involving Russian and Turkish stakeholders. Mr. Weaver has also advised diplomatic agents, advised on Title IX allegations and charges against national security forces. Mr. Weaver is fluent in English, French, German, Spanish and Portuguese. He is admitted to practice law in the State of New York, Portugal, Brazil, and before the International Criminal Court.