2012 M.C. Bassiouni Justice Award winner
Dr. Patrick J. Treanor
Dr. Patrick J. Treanor was granted the 2012 M.C. Bassiouni Justice Award in Beijing on 2 April 2012 in recognition of (a) the distinguished service he has rendered through his work in criminal justice for core international crimes at the international and national levels; (b) his unique role in the introduction of analysts as a profession – and the development of their functions – in the investigation, prosecution and adjudication of core international crimes, one of the most significant achievements of contemporary war crimes justice; (c) his substantial contribution to the factual understanding of the role played by civilian power structures during the armed conflicts in the former Yugoslavia in the 1990s; (d) his analytical and linguistic thoroughness; and (e) the fair-mindedness, sobriety, humility and respect that characterizes his professional service.
Until his recent retirement, Dr. Treanor served as the Senior Research Officer and a Team Leader (head of political analysis), Office of the Prosecutor, International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (1998-2009); as a Research Officer in the same Office (1994-98); a Historian and (after January 1989) a Senior Historian, Office of Special Investigations, U.S. Department of Justice (1980-94); an Intelligence Analyst, Federal Research Division, U.S. Library of Congress (1977-80); and a free-lance translator and interpreter (1976-77). At the Department of Justice, he co-authored the report “In the Matter of Kurt Waldheim”, pursuant to which the then President of Austria and former UN Secretary-General was barred from entering the U.S. in a private capacity on the basis of war crimes allegations. At ICTY he testified as an expert witness in four trials, most recently (2011) that of Bosnian-Serb leader Dr. Radovan Karadžić. Dr. Treanor holds an A.B. with Honours in Russian from the College of the Holy Cross, Worcester, MA (1968); an M.A. in Russian and East European Studies from Yale University Graduate School (1970); and a Ph.D. in Bulgarian History from University College London (School of Slavonic and East European Studies), University of London (1999). He has also studied at the University of Vienna, Sofia State University and the Institute of Balkan Studies in Sofia. Dr. Treanor conducts his research in over ten languages. He is married to Judy and has two children and two grandchildren.
The 2012 Award Committee consisted of Professor M.C. Bassiouni, H.E. Judge Erkki Kourula (President, ICC Appeals Chamber), Professor Olympia Bekou, Mr. Gilbert Bitti (Senior Legal Adviser, ICC), Mr. Alf Butenschøn Skre (Secretary), and Professor Morten Bergsmo (Chair). Its decision was made by consensus.
