Justice Isaack Lenaola has been elected President of the Residual Special Court for Sierra Leone (RSCSL) for a renewable two-year term during the Court’s plenary session in Sierra Leone.
Justice Lenaola previously served as Vice President and has been a judge of the RSCSL since 2013.
The Court also elected Justice Andrew Hatton as Vice President and appointed Justice Tonia Barnett to the position of Staff Appeals Judge.
“Judges of the Residual Special Court ended their two-day Plenary on Friday by electing new officers to lead the Court. Justice Isaack Lenaola, the immediate past Vice President, is now President. Justice Andrew Hatton was elected Vice President, and Justice Tonia Barnett was elected as Staff Appeals Judge. Officers are elected to two-year renewable terms,” read part of the statement.
Profile of Isaack Lenaola
Justice Lenaola completed his undergraduate degree at the University of Nairobi before enrolling into Kenya School of Law.
After his admission to the Bar, he practiced law in Nairobi, specializing in commercial and land law. He served as a commissioner at the People’s Commission of Kenya and at the Constitution of Kenya Review Commission.
Isaack joined the Judicial Service in 2003 and served as Resident Judge in Embu, Meru, Machakos, and Kakamega High Courts. While serving as a High Court judge, he also served as a commissioner on the Judicial Service Commission.
He previously served as a board member of the Judicial Training Institute, chairman of the Kenya Magistrates and Judges Association, and treasurer of the East African Magistrates and Judges Association.
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Career Background
Before his appointment to the Supreme Court, Justice Lenaola was Presiding Judge of the Constitutional and Human Rights Division at the High Court in Milimani, where he delivered landmark decisions on human rights, devolution, and the separation of powers.
He served as a judge and Deputy Principal Judge of the Court of First Instance of the East African Court of Justice from 2011 to 2018. Since 2013, he has also been a judge of the Residual Special Court for Sierra Leone.
Justice Lenaola is President of the Advisory Council of the Strathmore Institute for Advanced Studies in International Criminal Justice and President of the International Association of Refugee and Migration Judges.
He is a Fellow of McLaughlin College at York University in Toronto, Canada, and a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators.
Lenaola also serves as President of the Judicial Action Group and is a member of the Commonwealth Magistrates and Judges Association, the Accountability Panel of the Wildlife Justice Commission, and the Advisory Board of Trustees of Laws.
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Functions Isaac Lenaola will play
The SCSL was initially created by the government of Sierra Leone and the United Nations to prosecute persons found to have played a significant role in serious violations of humanitarian law observed during the civil war that rocked the country in the 1990s.
After more than a decade, the court was dissolved in 2013 and replaced by the current RSCSL, and its roles were transferred to its predecessor, where Lenaola serves.
Its mandate includes Witness Protection and Support, responding to threats related to testimony given before the SCSL, and providing appropriate protection and support measures.
Judges of the court are also charged with the duty of assisting National Prosecution Authorities, managing governmental requests for evidence and information to support investigations, prosecutions, forfeiture proceedings, and asylum cases.
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