NEW YORK, DECEMBER 6 – Rosario Salvatore Aitala has been elected in New York as one of the six new judges of the International Criminal Court. The result of the election, held during the sixteenth session of the Assembly of States Parties in New York, from 4 to 14 December 2017, confirms Italy’s longstanding commitment to international justice.
Judge’s Aitala’s career has been devoted to criminal law and procedure, also at international level. In twenty-five years of activity, he has held several judicial and investigative positions in Italy and abroad, lately as Senior Advisor to the President of the Italian Senate, Pietro Grasso. In Rome the Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Angelino Alfano, praised the outcome of the vote. Aitala received 84 “yes” by the Assembly of the States Parties of the Statute of Rome.
Mr. Aitala has also been teaching criminal law, criminal procedure and international criminal law in local and international universities. He started his career as senior police official in charge of investigations on serious crime. Subsequently, he became a junior magistrate at the Court of Appeal in Milan, where he specialized in the prosecution of cases of corruption and Mafia and crimes against vulnerable persons. Later, he acted as prosecutor in Trapani, Sicily, and was seconded at the Anti-Mafia Prosecution Office in Palermo, prosecuting many cases of offences against women and children, organized crime, corruption, violent crimes, and human trafficking. As Principal Expert of the Police Assistance Mission of the European Community to Albania (PAMECA), he closely advised the Minister of Justice on criminal legislation and the General Prosecutor on cases of organized crime, human and drugs trafficking, terrorism and money laundering.
He also contributed to the establishment of the Serious and Organized Crime Court and the Office of the Prosecutor. In his capacity as coordinator of the Italian Judicial Programme for Afghanistan, he drafted criminal legislation and established Sections for crimes against women and children in the Office of the General Prosecutor in Kabul and in Herat. He advised Central and Latin American countries on investigation and prosecution of organized, financial and serious crime. Currently, as Senior Advisor to the President of the Italian Senate, Mr. Aitala supervises a wide range of international and legal affairs.
Mr. Aitala has specific judicial expertise on criminal offences against vulnerable persons, including women and children, transnational crime, financial investigations and international cooperation on criminal matters. (@OnuItalia)
