CEDH · PRESS;GENERAL;ENG — 4 décembre 2006

.s800EAC49 { font-size:12pt } .sFE10DC93 { margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt; text-align:center } .s29100277 { font-family:Arial; font-weight:bold } .s40F41F73 { margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt; text-align:right } .s32563E28 { margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt } .sBB9EE52A { font-family:Arial } .s83BE5C30 { font-family:Arial; font-size:8pt; vertical-align:super } .sA36B60A1 { font-family:Arial; font-style:italic } .sADADF4A7 { font-family:Arial; text-decoration:underline } .sCB9E0544 { margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt; text-align:left } .s76CF415B { page-break-before:always; clear:both } .sC7EAD8B { font-family:Arial; font-weight:bold; text-decoration:underline } .s4DDA3AA3 { font-family:Arial; font-weight:bold; font-style:italic } EUROPEAN COURT OF HUMAN RIGHTS   750 4.12.2006   Press release issued by the Registrar   ELECTIONS TO THE EUROPEAN COURT OF HUMAN RIGHTS   The European Court of Human Rights today elected Sir Nicolas Bratza (British) as Vice-President of the Court and Mrs Françoise Tulkens (Belgian) as Section President.   Sir Nicolas Bratza and Mrs Françoise Tulkens have been elected for a three-year term and will take up their respective duties as Vice-President and Section President on 19 January 2007, replacing Judge Jean-Paul Costa, who will take office as President of the Court on that date. Sir Nicolas Bratza, who will continue to sit as a Section President, will assume the functions of Vice-President alongside Judge Christos Rozakis (Greek), who was re-elected Vice-President in 2004.   The Court is composed of one judge in respect of each of the 46 States to have ratified the European Convention on Human Rights. Judges work in five Sections – each with a Section President – from which Chambers of seven judges are constituted. The Court also sits as a Grand Chamber of 17 judges.   ***   Judge Sir Nicolas Bratza was born in 1945. He studied law at Oxford University. After qualifying as a barrister, he was appointed Junior Counsel to the Crown, and subsequently Queen’s Counsel. In 1993 he was elected a Bencher of Lincoln’s Inn and appointed a Recorder of the Crown Court. He was appointed High Court Judge in 1998. He was a member of the European Commission of Human Rights from 1993 to 1998. He has been a judge of the European Court of Human Rights since 1 November 1998, was a Section President from 1 November 1998 until 30 April 2000 and has been Section President since 1   November 2001.   Judge Françoise Tulkens was born in 1942. She studied at the University of Louvain (Belgium). She has a doctorate in law, a degree in criminology and a higher education teaching certificate ( agrégation ) in law. She has taught criminal law and human rights, notably at the University of Louvain and at Robert Schuman University, Strasbourg. She has been awarded the title of doctor honoris causa by the Universities of Geneva, Limoges and Ottawa. Mrs   Tulkens has been a judge of the European Court of Human Rights since 1 November 1998 and was a Section Vice-President from 8 November 2001 to 29 April 2003.   ***   Further information about the Court can be found on its Internet site ( http://www.echr.coe.int ).   Press contacts Emma Hellyer (telephone: 00 33 (0)3 90 21 42 15) Stéphanie Klein (telephone: 00 33 (0)3 88 41 21 54) Beverley Jacobs (telephone: 00 33 (0)3 90 21 54 21)   The European Court of Human Rights was set up in Strasbourg by the Council of Europe Member States in 1959 to deal with alleged violations of the 1950 European Convention on Human Rights.