Former EC Chief Justice is new President of CCJ

Sir Dennis Byron has been appointed president of the Trinidad-based Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ). He is aformer Chief Justice of the Eastern Caribbean Court of Appeal.

Sir Dennis replaces Michael de la Bastide, who is due to retire on August 18.

The Public Education and Communications Unit of the CCJ announced the appointment Tuesday. 

Sir Dennis is at present completing an assignment as president of the United Nations International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR).

He is a native of St Kitts and Nevis. He hold an MA and LLB. He was the trial judge in the Maurice Bishop murder trial in Grenada.

Sir Dennis led the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court Judicial Law Reform Programme, which included the establishment of a Code of Ethics for Judges, the implementation of new Civil Procedure Rules and the establishment of a Judicial Eastern Institute, among other achievements.

Queen Elizabeth II made him a knight in 2000, and in 2004 became a member of Her Majesty's Privy Council in 2004.

Sir Dennis has written many articles and publications and holds the first Yogis and Keddy Chair in Human Rights Law at Dalhousis University, Nova Scotia, Canada.