Robert Petit
Robert Petit is a Canadian lawyer who during 2006 and 2009 was the International Co-Prosecutor for the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia, which is aiming to try Khmer Rouge leaders for violations of international criminal law in Cambodia between 1975 and 1979. He led the investigation and prosecution of five senior most leaders of the Khmer Rouge namely Nuon Chea, Ieng Sary, Ieng Thirith, Khieu Samphan and Duch. The last was recently convicted for war crimes and crimes against humanity. Petit also initiated the prosecution of five other Khmer Rouge leaders whose cases are still under investigation by the United Nations backed tribunal.
Petit was a Crown prosecutor in Montreal for eight years. From 1996 to 1999, he was a Legal Officer in the Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda. Between 1999 and 2004, he was a Regional Legal Advisor for the United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo, a Prosecutor for the Serious Crimes Unit of the United Nations Mission of Support to East Timor, and a Senior Trial Attorney for the Special Court for Sierra Leone.
Currently, Petit serves as a Counsel in the Crimes Against Humanity and the War Crimes Section of Justice Canada.
Petit was called to the Quebec Bar in 1987 and has spoken and written extensively on international humanitarian and human rights laws. In 2009, he received the Frederick K. Cox International Humanitarian Award for Global reform at the Case Western School of Law, Cleveland.
He speaks fluent English and French.
Petit was selected in 2011 as one of the four final candidates to succeed Luis Moreno-Ocampo as the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court in the Hague.
References
- Dan Southerland, "Khmer Rouge Tribunal - Interview with a Co-prosecutor", Radio Free Asia, 2007-01-24
- Glenn Kauth, "Robert Petit: A divergent path", Canadian Lawyer, July 2009.