Presidency of the Court
President Guido Raimondi
Guido Raimondi was born in Naples (Italy) in 1953.
Former member of the Italian Court of Cassation, he has been a judge at the European Court of Human Rights since 5 May 2010 and became its President on 1st November 2015.
In September 2012 he was elected Section President and then Vice-President of the Court for a three-year term of office starting on 1 November 2012. He has been a member of the judiciary since 1977. In the first part of his career he worked in the lower courts, dealing with civil and criminal cases, until 1986, when he was assigned to the Legal Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Servizio del Contenzioso diplomatico). From 1989 to 1997 he was Co-Agent of the Italian Government before the European Court of Human Rights.
Between 1997 and 2003 he served on the Court of Cassation, first in the Advocate General’s office and then as judge. During the same period he occasionally served as ad hoc judge in cases before the European Court of Human Rights. In May 2003 he joined the International Labour Organization (ILO) as Deputy Legal Adviser. In February 2008 he became Legal Adviser of that organisation – a post he occupied until he took up his seat in Strasbourg.
He is the author of numerous publications in the field of international law, particularly human rights.
President of the ECHR
The plenary Court elects its President for a period of 3 years.
The President directs the work and administration of the Court. He represents the Court and, in particular, is responsible for its relations with the authorities of the Council of Europe. The President presides at plenary meetings of the Court, meetings of the Grand Chamber and meetings of the panel of 5 judges.
President's interview: 20th anniversary of the “New Court”
Twenty years after the setting up of a full-time European Court of Human Rights guaranteeing a right of individual petition to over 800 million Europeans, President Guido Raimondi hailed the establishment of the “new” Court in 1998 as a landmark in the development of international human rights protection.
- Video (In French only)