Prof. Dr. Rona Aybay
Member March 1996-present
Appointed by the Council of Europe from Turkey

Mr. Aybay was educated in Istanbul and in the United States of America, where he received a Masters Degree in Comparative Law at Columbia University. Among his past positions, he has been Vice-President of the Istanbul Bar Association; Associate Dean of the Faculty of Political Science at the University of Ankara; Dean of the Faculty of Administrative Sciences at the Middle East Technical University( Member of the European Commission Against Racism and Intolerance (and a Visiting Fulbright Professor at Iowa University Law School in the USA. He is currently a Professor at the Faculty of Law at Istanbul Bilgi University and President of the Aybay Foundation for Legal Studies. He is author of several books and articles in the field of human rights, constitutional law and private international law.

Dr. Hasan Balić
Member March 1996-present
Appointed by the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina

Mr. Balic completed postgraduate studies in criminal law at the University of Sarajevo in 1975 and afterwards was awarded a Ph.D. at the Criminal Law Department on 6 December 1999. After having worked as a judge at the Municipal Court in Foca and Municipal Court I in Sarajevo, he was appointed a judge of the District Court in Sarajevo (1975-1981); of the Associated Labour Court in BiH (1981-1984); and from 1984 to 1995 of the Supreme Court of the Republic of BiH and of the Criminal Court (of which he was President), which decided upon the applications of the Hague Tribunal. He was also a member of the Commission for Qualifying Exam for Judges. He has published two books on labour law and occupancy right law and has co-authored articles for national and international law magazines. He is the author of the book "Bosnian Cataclysm". This was his doctoral dissertation, under the working title "Genocide against Bosniacs 1992-1995" with a special review of the Foca Municipality" adopted for publishing.

Mr. Mehmed Deković
Member March 1996-present
Appointed by the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina

Mr. Dekovic was born in Podgorica and completed his education in Sarajevo where he graduated from the Faculty of Law at the University of Sarajevo on 30 June 1959. He worked as court and law clerk, and in 1963 he passed the qualifying exam for judge. He worked as a case lawyer and in 1967 as the Head of the legal department of the Institute for Social Insurance of the Republic. He has worked as a judge at the Municipality Court in Sarajevo (1971-1975); at the Commercial Court of BiH (1975-1980); and at the Supreme Court of the Republic of BiH from 1983 to 1996. He also has been a member of several expert commissions. Mr. Dekovic is the author of several books on employment and property rights; has published articles in several law magazines; and is the main editor of the magazine "Pravna Misao". He published more than 200 legal articles /"Informator" Zagreb, "Savremena praksa" Beograd, ZIPS and "Pravna misao" Sarajevo/. As lecturer he has appeared on many international and national symposiums. He was the President of the Election Commission of the Republic (1987-1990). He was a member of the Commission for Qualifying Exam for Judges, the Commission for state officials and petty offence judges.

Prof. Dr. Giovanni Grasso
Member March 1996-present, Vice President December 1998-present
Appointed by the Council of Europe from Italy

Mr. Grasso holds a Master of Laws Degree from the University of Catania. He is a full Professor of Criminal Law in the Law Faculty of the University of Catania since 1987; former Legal Counsel for international cooperation in criminal matters to the Italian Minister of Interior; member of the Catania Bar, the Scientific Council of the ISISC (Institute Superieur de Sciences Criminelles), and the Scientific Council of the "Espana European Institute"; and President of the Center for European Criminal Law in Catania. He was also a member of the Research Group set up by the European Commission to make recommendations on the "European Judicial Space." He is a former member of several experts committees of the Council of Europe and of numerous commissions and delegations. He was Legal Counsel to the Italian Government Agent before the European Commission and Court of Human Rights from 1987-1989 and in 1992. He is author of several books, commentaries to the Italian criminal code, and numerous publications in the fields of criminal law, human rights law and international law.

Mr. Andrew William Grotrian
Member December 1997-present
Appointed by the Council of Europe from the United Kingdom

Mr. Grotrian graduated with a Bachelor of Laws (LLB) in 1966 from the University of St Andrews (Queen's College, Dundee), and was admitted to the Faculty of Advocates (Scotland) in 1970. Mr. Grotrian practiced as an advocate during the years 1970-74 and 1984-96. From 1974 to 1984, he worked as a lawyer in the Secretariat of the European Commission of Human Rights. He later joined the United Nations Independent Jurist for Namibia as an Assistant, where he was also appointed to the UN Mission on Detainees. From 1996 to 1997 he was the Registrar of the Human Rights Chamber.

Mr. Želimir Juka
Member March 1996-present
Appointed by the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina

Educated at the University of Sarajevo, Mr. Juka was appointed as a judge of District Court II in Sarajevo until 1969. Afterwards, he was nominated Deputy of the Municipality and District Attorney in Split, and Deputy Republic Public Attorney from 1983 until 1994, when he was appointed as a judge of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of BiH. He resigned from the Constitutional Court in 1996. He also served as a Deputy Prosecutor for the Federation of BiH in 1997, but resigned in 1998.

Prof. Dr. Viktor Masenko-Mavi
Member March 1997-present
Appointed by the Council of Europe from Hungary

Having specialised in international law at Kiev State University, where he was awarded a Ph.D., Mr. Masenko - Mavi has been working since 1989 as a Senior Research Fellow at the Institute for Legal and Administrative Sciences at the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. He has carried out teaching activities simultaneously with research work. Presently he is the chair of international law of Budapest University of Economics and Public Administration. Since 1991 he has been a Member of the Council of Europe Committee on the Development of Human Rights and the Deputy Director of the Hungarian Center for Human Rights. He has published three books and numerous articles and reports on different problems of international law.

Mr. Jakob Möller
Member March 1996-present, Vice President December 1996-December 1997,
Acting President July-October 1997
Appointed by the Council of Europe from Iceland

A lawyer and judge from Iceland, Mr. Möller worked in the UN Centre for Human Rights (1971-1996) as the Chief of the Communications Branch (1974-1996), and Secretary of the UN Commission on Human Rights (1995-1996). He has also been a lecturer for the UN and a speaker at universities and institutions on the UN human rights programme. Mr. Möller has written articles and commentaries for several international law publications on human rights.

Prof. Dr. Manfred Nowak
Member March 1996-present, Vice President December 1997-December 1998
Appointed by the Council of Europe from Austria

Mr. Nowak holds a Master of Laws Degree and Ph.D. from Vienna University and Columbia University in New York. At present he holds the Olof Palme Chair on Human Rights and Humanitarian Law at the University of Law in Sweden. Since 1992, he has been Director of the Ludwig Boltzmann Institute of Human Rights at Vienna University (since 1992). He is a member of the International Commission of Jurists, the UN Expert on enforced disappearances, President of the European International University care of Centre on Human Rights and Democratization in Venice and recipient of the 1994 UNESCO Prize for the Teaching of Human Rights. Among his past positions, he has been Director of the Netherlands Institute of Human Rights at Utrecht University (1987-1989), member of the Austrian delegation to the UN Commission on Human Rights (1986-1994), and UN Expert on Missing Persons in the Former Yugoslavia (1994-1997). He is author of numerous books and articles in the fields of human rights, public and international law, and politics.

Mr. Miodrag Pajić
Member March 1996-present
Appointed by the Republika Srpska

After graduating from the Faculty of Law in Banja Luka, Mr. Pajic worked as an agent, the director of legal and personnel sector and later as the director of a large company. Mr. Pajic was appointed in 1990 as the Director of Legal Property Department and Cadastral Survey in the Municipality of Brcko and as a member of the Brcko Municipality Government. He was also Mayor of Brcko from March 1994 until 1997.

Ms. Michèle Picard
Member March 1996-present, President November 1997-present
Appointed by the Council of Europe from France

After receiving a Master of Laws Degree from the University of Paris II, Ms. Picard was appointed as a judge in 1982. She later joined the Cour de Cassation as an auditeur in 1984. She worked with the Ministry of Economy and Finance in commercial and social law from 1987 to 1989. In 1989, Ms. Picard began working for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the legal department where she dealt with international human rights, including cases before the European Court of Human Rights and the UN Committee of Human Rights. Since 1995, Ms. Picard has been working as a judge at the "Tribunal des Grande Instance de Paris."

Prof. Dr. Vitomir Popović
Member March 1996-present
Appointed by the Republika Srpska

Mr. Popovic holds a MA degree from the Faculty of Law in Banja Luka and a Ph.D. in International Commercial Law at the University of Belgrade. He was President and judge of the First Instance Court in Banja Luka and Vice-President of the Government of Republika Srpska for Internal Affairs; Director of the Institute for International Law and International Business Co-operation in Banja Luka; arbiter for the Republika Srpska for the area of Brcko: and arbiter of foreign trade arbitration in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and Macedonia. He is permanently employed as a Professor of Foreign Trade Law at the Law School of the University of Banja Luka and is a judge of the Constitutional Court of BiH. He has published a number of professional and scientific works in the country and abroad.

Prof. Dr. Dietrich Rauschning
Member March 1996-present
Appointed by the Council of Europe from Germany

Mr. Rauschning obtained his legal training at the Universities of Hamburg, Munich and Vancouver B.C., and at the courts of Hamburg. Holding a doctoral degree from the University of Hamburg, he received his Habilitation at the Law Faculty of Kiel. Since 1970 he has been a full Professor of Public Law. He has been, inter alia, Director of the Institute of Public International Law at the University of G(ttingen, dean of his faculty, founding dean of the Law Faculty at Halle/Saale and Legal Counsel to the State Government of Lower Saxony. The books and articles he has published have dealt mainly with topics of public international law and constitutional law.

Mr. Mato Tadić
Member June 1999-present
Appointed by the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina

After graduating from the Faculty of Law of the University of Sarajevo in 1977, Mr. Tadic worked with the Municipal Public Prosecutor's Office in Brcko. In 1978 he was appointed a Deputy Public Prosecutor and in 1983 Public Prosecutor. In 1990 he was appointed Deputy Republic Public Prosecutor for Bosnia and Herzegovina in Sarajevo. From 1994-1998 Mr. Tadic served as Minister of Justice of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina. He is a member of the Commission for Supervision of Regulations in Brcko District in accordance with the Arbitration Decision for Brcko District and member of several expert groups for reform of the judiciary in the FBiH and BiH, especially in criminal law. He is the author of several publications in criminal law, constitutional law and local self-government.