The Human rights centre expresses its condolences for the loss of Prof. Antonio Cassese

He was among the most highly regarded and internationally known Italian jurist in the last decades. He matched the doctrine with a sophisticated understanding of international political events. For his independence and fairness he was appointed to cover leading roles of great importance in the most innovative fields of international law.

In 1989, he became the first President of the European Committee for the prevention of torture. From 1993 to 1997 he chaired the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, where he continued to sit as a Tribunal judge until 2000. He contributed to the development of modern international criminal law. In 2004, he chaired the UN Investigation commission on Darfur. In 2009, he was appointed Chairman of the Special Court on Lebanon.

For his contribution to the juridical science and to the international case law, mainly in the fields of international human rights law and international criminal law, as well as for its extraordinary citizenship, he received in 2002 the Grand Prix awarded by the Académie Universelle des Cultures for the "exceptional contribution to the protection of human rights in Europe and the world".