CEDH · PRESS;GENERAL;ENG — 18 janvier 2007

.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 } .sA36B60A1 { font-family:Arial; font-style:italic } .sADADF4A7 { font-family:Arial; text-decoration:underline } .sCB9E0544 { margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt; text-align:left } .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 47 18.01.2007   Press release issued by the Registrar     OPENING OF THE JUDICIAL YEAR   NEW PRESIDENT TAKES OFFICE   The European Court of Human Rights is holding its annual ceremony to mark the official opening of the judicial year on 19 January.   The ceremony will take place in the Court’s building in Strasbourg. It will be attended by the current Chair of the Council of Europe’s Committee of Ministers, Fiorenzo Stolfi, Minister of Foreign Affairs of San Marino and the French Minister of Justice, Pascal Clément, as well as by around 20 Presidents of Europe’s Supreme and Constitutional Courts and other senior judicial figures.   The new President of the Court, Mr Jean-Paul Costa, who was elected in November 2006, takes up his duties on the same day.   Mr Costa replaces Luzius Wildhaber (Swiss), who has been the Court’s President since 1 November 1998. Mr Wildhaber is 70 today, 18 January 2007, and so must stand down, under Article 23 § 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights.   The Court is composed of one judge in respect of each of the 46 States to have ratified the Convention. 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.   Jean-Paul Costa was born in 1941 and studied in Paris at the Institute of Political Studies, the Law Faculty and the National School of Administration. From 1985 to 1986 he chaired the French delegation during the negotiations for the Treaty between France and the United Kingdom for the channel fixed link. From 1989 to 1993 he was Assessor of a Chamber in the Judicial Division of the Conseil d’Etat and from 1993 to 1998 he was the President of a Chamber. He was also Associate Law Professor at the Universities of Orléans and Paris I (Panthéon-Sorbonne). He has been a Judge of the European Court of Human Rights since 1 November 1998, Section President since 1 May 2000 and Vice-President since 1 November 2001.   Luzius Wildhaber was born in 1937. He studied law at Basle, Paris, Heidelberg, London and Yale universities. In 1977 he was appointed Professor at Basle University. From 1992 to 1994 he was Rector of the University. From 1975 to 1988 he sat as a judge of the Constitutional Court of the Principality of Liechtenstein and from 1989 to 1994 as a judge of the Administrative Tribunal of the Inter-American Development Bank. He has been a judge of the European Court of Human Rights since 1991 and President of the Court since 1 November 1998.   ***   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.