CEDH · PRESS;GENERAL;ENG — 11 avril 2000

.s3ABFC313 { font-size:10pt } .s598389F9 { margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt; text-align:center; font-size:12pt } .s29100277 { font-family:Arial; font-weight:bold } .s85646119 { margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt; text-align:justify; font-size:12pt } .s23A41E03 { width:36pt; display:inline-block } .s420E98AC { margin-top:0pt; margin-left:360pt; margin-bottom:0pt; text-indent:36pt; text-align:justify; font-size:12pt } .sBB9EE52A { font-family:Arial } .s2EF62ED2 { margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt; font-size:12pt } .s13F94BDE { font-family:Arial; letter-spacing:-0.1pt } .sEAE7E486 { margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:12pt; text-align:justify; font-size:12pt } .s8611E6CC { margin-top:12pt; margin-bottom:12pt; text-align:justify; page-break-after:avoid; line-height:12pt; widows:0; orphans:0 } .s8408AAD1 { font-family:Arial; font-size:12pt; font-weight:bold } .s4B4B41EE { font-family:Arial; font-size:12pt } .s15544CEF { margin-top:12pt; margin-bottom:0pt; text-align:center; font-size:12pt } .sCB27B9E { width:16.66pt; display:inline-block } .s147A4AAD { width:18pt; display:inline-block } .s68BA453A { width:7.99pt; display:inline-block } .sCBC20640 { margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt; text-align:justify; page-break-inside:avoid; page-break-after:avoid; font-size:12pt } .sA36B60A1 { font-family:Arial; font-style:italic } EUROPEAN COURT OF HUMAN RIGHTS                         271 11.4.2000   Press release issued by the Registrar   ELECTION OF SECTION VICE-PRESIDENTS   The European Court of Human Rights has elected four new section Vice-Presidents, to take office on 1 May 2000 for a term of 18 months:   Wilhelmina Thomassen , Netherlands Judge at the Court since 1 November 1998, will be Vice-President of Section 1; Andras Baka, Hungarian Judge at the Court since 1991, will be Vice-President of Section 2; Willi Fuhrmann, Austrian Judge since November 1998, will be Vice-President of Section 3; and José Antonio Pastor Ridruejo, Spanish Judge since November 1998, will be Vice-President of Section 4.   The Court’s 41 judges (one in respect of each State to have ratified the European Convention on Human Rights) work in four Sections from which Chambers of seven judges are constituted. The Court also sits as a Grand Chamber of seventeen Judges.   ***   Wilhelmina Thomassen , a Netherlands national born on 8 September 1949 in Rotterdam, graduated in Netherlands Law, Rijksuniversiteit, Leiden, in 1974. From 1975-1985 she worked as a lawyer. She was a judge at the Regional Court, The Hague, 1985-1992 and Counsellor for legislation in the Ministry of Justice, 1991-1994. She was vice-president of the Regional Court, The Hague, 1992-1997, and Chair of the National Assembly of Investigation Judges, 1995-1997. She was Counsellor at the Court of Appeal, The Hague, 1997-1998, and Vice-president, Court of Appeal, The Hague, 1998.   Andras Baka, a Hungarian national born on 11 December 1952, became a Doctor of Law at the Faculty of Law of the Eötvös Loránd University in Budapest in 1978. He was a research fellow at the Institute for Legal and Political Sciences of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, 1978-90, and Professor of Constitutional Law at the College of Public Administration, Budapest (1989). He was Director-General and President of the Board of the College of Public Administration, Budapest (1990) and a Member of the Hungarian Parliament in 1990.   Willi Fuhrmann, an Austrian national born on 4 July 1944 in Neumühl, became a Doctor of Law in 1970 and practised as a lawyer in Baden (Vienna) from 1976. He joined the Vienna High Court Board of Examiners in 1981 and became a member of the Austrian Parliament (National Council) in 1987. He became a member of the Austrian delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe in 1989 and was Chair of the Social Democratic Parliamentary Group, 1990-1994. He was head of an OSCE Parliamentary Assembly delegation monitoring parliamentary elections in Belarus and a member of the Parliamentary Assembly OSCE delegation monitoring the Russian Presidential elections. He was also head of the Austrian delegation at the Interparliamentary Conference for several years. José Antonio Pastor Ridruejo , a Spanish national born on 6 December 1932 in Zaragoza, gained his doctorate in law at the University of Zaragoza in 1959. He was a lecturer in international law at the University of Zaragoza, 1960-70, and held Chairs in public international law at the Universities of Murcia (1970-74), Zaragoza (1974-78) and Complutense of Madrid, from 1978. He was head of the International Law Department, Complutense University, Madrid, 1980-86, and Special Representative of the United Nations Human Rights Commission for El Salvador (1981-92). He was Head of the International Legal Department, Spanish Foreign Affairs Ministry, 1986-98 and a member of the Spanish delegation to the United Nations General Assembly, 1987-97. He also became a member of the Permanent Court of Arbitration in 1987. ***   Further information on the Court can be found on its Internet site: http://www.echr.coe.int   Registry of the European Court of Human Rights F – 67075 Strasbourg Cedex Contacts:   Roderick Liddell (telephone: (0)3 88 41 24 92) Or:   Emma Hellyer (telephone: (0)3 90 21 42 15) Fax:   (0)3 88 41 27 91   The European Court of Human Rights was set up in 1959 in Strasbourg to deal with alleged violations of the 1950 European Convention on Human Rights.   On 1 November 1998 a permanent Court was established, replacing the original two-tier system of a part-time Commission and Court.