Alain Werner (born 19 November 1972) is a
Swiss
Swiss most commonly refers to:
* the adjectival form of Switzerland
* Swiss people
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* Swiss, Missouri
* Swiss, North Carolina
* Swiss, West Virginia
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* Swiss Café, an old café located ...
human rights lawyer, specialized in the defence of victims of armed conflicts, founder and director of Civitas Maxima (CM), an international network of lawyers and investigators based in
Geneva
Geneva ( , ; ) ; ; . is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland and the most populous in French-speaking Romandy. Situated in the southwest of the country, where the Rhône exits Lake Geneva, it is the ca ...
that since 2012 represents victims of mass crimes in their attempts to obtain justice.
Education and affiliation
He received his degree in law from
Geneva University
The University of Geneva (French: ''Université de Genève'') is a public research university located in Geneva, Switzerland. It was founded in 1559 by French theologian John Calvin as a theological seminary. It remained focused on theology unti ...
in 1996, and was admitted to the Bar of Geneva (Switzerland) in 1999.
He received his masters (LL.M) at
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...
in 2003.
Career
Werner worked in Freetown and in the Hague for five years (2003–2008) for the Office of the Prosecutor (OTP) of the
Special Court for Sierra Leone
The Special Court for Sierra Leone, or the "Special Court" (SCSL), also called the Sierra Leone Tribunal, was a judicial body set up by the government of Sierra Leone and the United Nations to "prosecute persons who bear the greatest responsibi ...
(SCSL), prosecuting rebels of the
Revolutionary United Front
The Revolutionary United Front (RUF) was a rebel group that fought a failed eleven-year war in Sierra Leone, beginning in 1991 and ending in 2002. It later transformed into a political party, which still exists today. The three most senior surv ...
(RUF) and former Liberian President
Charles Taylor. He was also a lawyer for the civil parties (victims) at the
Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia
The Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC; ; ), commonly known as the Cambodia Tribunal or Khmer Rouge Tribunal (), was a court established to try the senior leaders and the most responsible members of the Khmer Rouge for alle ...
(ECCC) in Phnom Penh on the "
Kaing Guek Eav" a.k.a. "Duch" case from 2009 to 2010. Since 1998, he has also worked for Chadian victims of the former Chadian President
Hissène Habré
Hissène Habré (Arabic: ''Ḥusaīn Ḥabrī'', Chadian Arabic: ; ; 13 August 1942 – 24 August 2021), also spelled Hissen Habré, was a Chadian politician and convicted war criminal who served as the 5th president of Chad from 1982 unt ...
, and was the one of civil parties lawyers representing them in Habré's trial in Dakar from 2015 to 2017 at the
Extraordinary African Chambers. In 2012, he founded Civitas Maxima in Geneva, Switzerland.
Werner began studying law in Geneva under Professor Robert Roth (later Presiding Judge of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon) from 1993 to 1996 just as the discipline of international criminal law was emerging. He went on to complete his master's degree at Columbia University, after which he was accepted on a Swiss government program to work on international projects. The program took him to the Special Court for Sierra Leone (SCSL) in Freetown, Sierra Leone, where he became a Trial Attorney for the OTP of the SCSL in the team prosecuting three RUF commanders following the end of the conflict in 2002. He continued in the program for three years, being then hired directly by the SCSL-OTP as Trial Attorney.
Charles Taylor
In 2006, former Liberian president
Charles Taylor was arrested while in exile in Nigeria and handed over to the SCSL, which had previously indicted him. Werner joined the SCSL prosecution team led by Brenda Hollis and Nicholas Koumjian, gathering witness statements and other evidence, and appearing in Court. Taylor was eventually convicted and, following an unsuccessful appeal, was imprisoned in the UK for a term of 50 years.
Hissène Habré
Between 2008 and 2017, alongside other projects, Werner worked for
Reed Brody
Reed Brody (born July 20, 1953, Budapest, Hungary) is a Hungarian-American human rights lawyer and prosecutor. He specializes in helping victims seek justice against abusive leaders for atrocities and has gained fame as the "Dictator Hunter." He ...
of
Human Rights Watch
Human Rights Watch (HRW) is an international non-governmental organization that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. Headquartered in New York City, the group investigates and reports on issues including War crime, war crimes, crim ...
on the case of the former President of Chad, Hissène Habré, and represented some of the victims for the two-year trial before the Extraordinary African Chambers in Dakar from 2015 to 2017.
"Kaing Guek Eav" a.k.a. "Duch"
In 2009, he was invited by Karim Khan QC to join a team working for the victims on the "Kaing Guek Eav" or "Duch" case, the first case heard at the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC). This experience cemented Werner's focus on the importance of documentation and preservation of evidence.
Aegis Trust
From there he moved to London to the
Aegis Trust
The Aegis Trust, founded in 2000, is the British NGO which campaigns to prevent genocide worldwide. Based at the United Kingdom's Holocaust Centre, which opened in 1995, the Aegis Trust coordinates the UK Genocide Prevention All-Party Parliamentary ...
, an organization dedicated to preventing genocide and mass atrocities worldwide. At Aegis he worked with
Hassan Bility, a prominent Liberian journalist who had been arrested and tortured under the Taylor regime. Their focus was on crimes that had been committed in Liberia and on working with partners in Sierra Leone to obtain evidence on the trade by Western players of 'blood diamonds'
International Criminal Court
In July 2024, Werner was registered on the list of Counsels admitted to appear in front of the
International Criminal Court
The International Criminal Court (ICC) is an intergovernmental organization and International court, international tribunal seated in The Hague, Netherlands. It is the first and only permanent international court with jurisdiction to prosecute ...
.
Civitas Maxima
At that point, Werner decided to set out on his own network and, in September 2012, he founded Civitas Maxima, an organisation that focuses on the meticulous documentation of mass crimes, and pursuit of justice on behalf of the victims.
Since its establishment in 2012, Civitas Maxima, working with its partners ( Global Justice and Research Project in Liberia an
Center for Accountability and the Rule of Lawin Sierra Leone) has built cases and contributed to the arrest of several individuals suspected of involvement in war crimes and crimes against humanity, collaborating with several different war crimes units, agents and/or prosecutors in Europe and the United States.
[Beeghly, Sean: ( Pittsburgh School of Law)]
"French court sentences former Liberian rebel commander to life imprisonment for crimes against humanity"
November 3, 2022, ''JURIST
A jurist is a person with expert knowledge of law; someone who analyzes and comments on law. This person is usually a specialist legal scholar, mostly (but not always) with a formal education in law (a law degree) and often a Lawyer, legal prac ...
'', University of Pittsburgh
The University of Pittsburgh (Pitt) is a Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. The university is composed of seventeen undergraduate and graduate schools and colle ...
, retrieved October 13, 2022
Awards
In April 2019 Werner was awarded the prize Bâtonnier
Michel Halpérin
Michel Halpérin (1948-2014) was a Swiss lawyer and politician.
Early life
Michel Halpérin was born in 1948.
Halpérin was educated at the International School of Geneva. He graduated from the University of Geneva.
Career
Halpérin became a la ...
for Excellence by the Geneva Bar Association.
In November 2020, he became an Ashoka fellow. Emilie Romon, co-director of Ashoka Switzerland, stated that : ''"We selected Alain Werner as a fellow because of his vision, creative solutions, impressive impact and strong ethical fiber. He identifies flaws in the system and finds new entrepreneurial ways to achieve his goals. He has the potential to transform the judiciary system and increase the efficiency of international justice."''
References
External links
Civitas Maximaofficial website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Werner, Alain
1972 births
21st-century Swiss lawyers
University of Geneva alumni
Columbia Law School alumni
Human rights lawyers
Living people
Social entrepreneurs