Letter from Mr Patrick Engelberg, Ambassador of Luxembourg to the Council of Europe, to Ms Chatzivassiliou-Tsovilis, Secretary General of the Parliamentary Assembly, dated 27 October 2023.
[…]
Attached are the three applications for the position of a judge to the European Court of Human Rights in respect of Luxembourg, in compliance with Article 22 of the European Convention on Human Rights.
These are, in alphabetical order:
The national selection procedure in Luxembourg is largely based on the guidelines of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe of 28 March 2012 on the selection of candidates for the post of judge at the European Court of Human Rights and its explanatory memorandum, which includes good practice in other Council of Europe member countries.
On 14 January 2023, a call for applications was published in Luxembourg's three largest daily newspapers: Luxemburger Wort, Tageblatt and Journal.
The call for applications was also published in the Luxembourg Official Journal, more specifically in the series known as Mémorial B (No. 245 of 25 January 2023).
It was also distributed electronically to the Luxembourg bar, the magistracy, notaries and bailiffs.
The call for applications was inspired by the guidelines of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe of 28 March 2012 on the selection of candidates for the position of judge at the European Court of Human Rights.
Candidates had to:
The applications were submitted to a national selection committee. It invited the candidates who met the requirements to an interview, during which it examined not only their qualifications and experience, as well as their legal and linguistic skills, but also their suitability for judicial office within a collegiate body, including their management skills. The interviews took place at the Ministry of Justice in Luxembourg on 7 June 2023.
Candidates were invited to indicate in their application why, in their own judgement, they were suitable for this role. The curriculum vitae attached to the application must have been drawn up in one of the official languages of the Council of Europe on the basis of the model, the electronic version of which can be found at the following address: http://assembly.coe.int/CommitteeDocs/2009/IVIodelCVFR.doc.
Following this call for applications, the Ministry of Justice received seven applications for the position of judge at the European Court of Human Rights in respect of Luxembourg, including one female application.
On 2 February 2023, the Minister of Justice, drawing inspiration from the above-mentioned guidelines and their explanatory memorandum, sent an official letter to the institutions and persons whom she intended to have sit on a national selection committee for candidates for the position of judge at the European Court of Human Rights in respect of Luxembourg.
In this letter, the selection procedure was explained in full.
By Ministerial Decree of 24 April 2023, amended by the Decree of 26 May 2023, which has as its legal basis the European Convention on Human Rights, the Rules of the European Court of Human Rights, Resolution 1646 (2009) of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe on the nomination of candidates and election of judges to the European Court of Human Rights, the Resolution of 23 September 2009 of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe on the status and conditions of service of judges at the European Court of Human Rights and the guidelines of 28 March 2012 of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe concerning the selection of candidates for the post of judge at the European Court of Human Rights, the Minister of Justice has appointed the following persons as members of the Luxembourg Selection Committee:
The secretariat was provided by Ms Nancy Carier, Advisor at the Ministry of Justice, appointed by the same ministerial decree for this purpose.
Mr Roger Linden, Chairman, convened the Selection Committee before receiving the candidates in order to prepare for the interviews. Maître Pit Reckinger, President of the Luxembourg Bar, was excused.
The standardised interview outline drawn up in 2014, when the selection procedure was introduced, was analysed and the Committee members agreed on the topics to be covered during the interviews.
It was decided that the language test would be carried out by means of oral questions in English and French.
The Selection Committee examined and validated all the applications received by the Ministry of Justice within the deadline.
It was also decided to have candidates sign a declaration of honour with the following wording:
"I, the undersigned, declare on my honour: (1) that, in the event of my election as a judge of the European Court of Human Rights, I undertake not to engage, during my term of office, in any activity which is incompatible with the requirements of independence, impartiality or availability required for a full-time activity;
(2) that I have never said, written or done anything which, if it were made public, might be prejudicial to the honour of the European Court of Human Rights.".
As in 2014, candidates were asked to bring a recent extract from their criminal record to the interview.
The Chairman of the Selection Committee also asked all the members of the Selection Committee whether there was any conflict of interest concerning any of the candidates. All Committee members declared that they had no such conflict of interest.
The Selection Committee's interviews with the candidates took place on 7 June 2023, under the chairmanship of Mr Roger Linden.
The secretariat was provided by Ms Nancy Carier, Adviser at the Ministry of Justice.
At the beginning of the interview each candidate handed in a recent extract from his/her criminal record and signed a declaration on his/her honour stating that if elected to the position of judge at the European Court of Human Rights, he/she undertakes not to engage, during his/her term of office, in any activity which is incompatible with the requirements of independence, impartiality or availability required for full-time office and that he/she has never said, written or done anything which, if it were to be made public, might be prejudicial to the honour of the European Court of Human Rights.
The interviews lasted approximately 30 minutes per candidate and during these interviews a language test was carried out by conducting part of the interview in English.
Following the interviews with the seven candidates, the Selection Committee deliberated and the members of the committee voted by secret ballot, with each member being able to mark the names of three candidates on the ballot paper.
Following this vote, the candidates with the highest number of votes were, in alphabetical order:
This list, together with the names of the other candidates, was submitted to the Minister of Justice, who endorsed the list adopted by the National Selection Committee.
Surname, first name: GERKRATH, Jörg
Gender: male
Date and place of birth: 10 April 1964 in Ellwangen (Jagst), Germany
Nationality: German
Not applicable.
Extensive experience in teaching, research and directing research in the fields of human rights in general, public international law, European law, ECHR law and Luxembourg constitutional law.
Participation in the René Cassin European Human Rights Moot Court since 1994, first as a team coach, then as a member of the jury and the Scientific Council. Each year, the René Cassin Moot Court focuses on a fictional practical case relating to the European Convention on Human Rights. It brings together teams of students from European and non-European universities. The course of the competition closely follows that of a case before the European Court of Human Rights. The final always takes place in the Court's main courtroom.
The University of Luxembourg team, led by Carola Sauer-Rappe under my supervision, won the competition in 2014. https://wwwen.uni.lu/universite/actualites/diaporama/victoire_de_l_universite_du_luxembourg_au_concours_rene_cassin
Member of the Scientific Council of the René Cassin European Human Rights Competition (since 2014) https://www.concourscassin.com/index.php?p=organigramme
None at all.
Books published (selection)
Articles and contributions (selection)
For all my publications, please visit: https://orbilu.uni.lu
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Having lived in Strasbourg for almost ten years from 1990 to 2000, I would gladly return and settle there permanently.
Name, forename: KAPPWEILER, Marie-Jeanne
Gender: female
Date and place of birth: 25 June 1967 in Luxembourg
Nationality: Luxembourgish
. Lawyer
. Magistrate / judgeNote
. Since 2009 General Prosecutor’s office:
. International commission on civil status (ICCS)
The ICCS is an intergovernmental organisation that strives to promote the international co-operation in the field of civil status and to improve the functioning of the competent national services. For this purpose, it keeps updated a voluminous documentation on the legislation and the case law of its member States, it provides information and expertise for these States, carries out legal and technical studies, edits publications and formulates conventions and recommendations.
I participated in the drafting of 9 international conventions and 2 recommendations, among which was the Convention (No. 34) on the issuance of multilingual and coded extracts and certificates of civil status documents.
I regularly provided written contributions for the documentation published by the ICCS, notably: Report on fraud in civil status, updates of the Practical guide on civil status, Study on transsexualism.
. Civil status (Luxembourg)
. Criminal register
I played a part in international work groups that drafted the NJR and ECRIS systems on the automated and codified exchange between criminal registers;
at national level, I implemented the exchange of information system with the other states parties to the NJR pilot project (Network of Judicial Registers);
later I implemented the ECRIS system (European Criminal Records Information System) that organises the exchange of information between all the member states of the European Union;
I also took part in COPEN meetings in Brussels (cooperation in criminal law) on ECRIS-TCN that rules the exchange of information on criminal convictions of third country nationals.
. Teaching
. Other activities
None
Cf. III (inseparable activities)
Cf. III
The GML is a professional association that strives to secure the independence of justice and to defend the rights and professional interests of the magistrates of the judiciary and administrative courts.
At international level, the GML is a member of the IAJ (International Association of Judges) and of the EAJ (European Association of Judges).
The GML regularly publishes press releases on current legal topics and issues opinions on draft bills that affect the functioning of justice.
In this function, I have been elected by the National Council of Justice as one of the three effective members of the Disciplinary Court that sits as a court of appeal in all disciplinary cases against magistrates of the judiciary and administrative courts.
None
None
The countless publications to which I contributed as a member of the ICCS, or as a member of national and international groups of experts, or as a committee member of the GML, have not been published in my own name, and therefore I cannot quote them here.
On the website https://justice.public.lu/fr/jurisprudence/cour-cassation.html you can find all my opinions in cases submitted to the Court of cassation since 2009 (in more than 140 cases),Note and my opinions submitted to the Constitutional court.
I would like to highlight the following cases brought before the Court of cassation in the field of EU law:
Publications in legal journals:
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I hereby declare that I will take up permanent residence in Strasbourg if elected a judge on the Court.
Name, forename: PISANI, Stéphane
Gender: male
Date and place of birth: 26 Larch 1978 in Esch/Alzette, Luxembourg
Nationality: luxembourgish
None
None
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I confirm.
I confirm.