Boštjan Zupančič
Boštjan M. Zupančič (born 13 May 1947, in Ljubljana, Slovenia) is a former Judge at the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, France (1998–2016) and also the President of the Third Chamber at this Court from November 2004 to January 2008. Judge Zupančič obtained his Scientiae Juris Doctor (S.J.D.) from Harvard Law School in 1981. Earlier, he obtained his L.L.M (Master in Law) degree from Harvard Law School in 1973. Career. Before being appointed a Judge at the European Court of Human Rights, Judge Zupančič served as a Judge at the Constitutional Court of Slovenia and was  the President of its Criminal Law Chamber from 1993 to 1998. Moreover, he served on the United Nations Committee Against Torture in Geneva from 1995 to 1998 and was also the Vice-Chairman of the committee. He was a Visiting Professor at the China University of Law and Public Policy in 1993. He taught as a Full Professor of Law at the University of Ljubljana in 1986 and was elected the First Vice-President of Academic Affairs of the University in 1989 and served in this capacity until 1992. He has also taught in a range of capacities at various  American law schools such as Fordham University, Iowa University, etc. Judge Zupančič has delivered lectures extensively at various universities including Harvard Law School, where he spoke on 'The Universality of Autonomous Legal Reasoning: Revolutionary Developments in the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg'; University of Sienna on 'Sovereignty in the Context of Human Rights'; University of Cardiff in UK; University of Washington, Seattle; University of British Columbia; Chong Qing University of Law and Public Policy, China; China University of Law and Public Policy, Beijing; Central European University, Budapest; University of Zagreb; Law Faculty of Galatasaray University, Istanbul amongst many  others. He has also delivered talks at various institutions such as International Association for the Protection of Human Rights, Cyprus, on 'Fair Trial in the Times of Terrorism'; the Izmir Bar Association in Turkey on 'The Jurisprudence of the European Court of Human Rights'; Association of Lawyers in Coimbra, Portugal, on 'Special Investigative Means and Human Rights in the Jurisprudence of the European Court of Human Rights'; the Human Rights Research and Practice Centre of the Union of Turkish Bar Associations in Ankara, Turkey, the Constitutional Court of Azerbaijan and the Constitutional Court of Georgia, where he spoke on 'The  Interpretation of Legal Precedents and of the Judgments of the European Court of Human Rights'; Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Berlin on 'Procedural Guarantees in Criminal Proceedings: common standards in the European Union'; Amnesty International, Ljubljana; International Association of Constitutional Law, French Senate, Paris amongst many others. He was a key speaker at the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) in Warsaw in Spring 2002. He has also presented at the Round-Table on the future of the European Court of Human Rights at the Université Robert Schuman, Strasbourg and given a series of lectures on the Court  to the Slovene Bar Association in Ljubljana. Furthermore, he has been invited to give lectures on the ECHR at the Institut des Sciences Politiques in Paris, every year since 2008. Education. Judge Zupančič obtained his Scientiae Juris Doctor (S.J.D.) from Harvard Law School in 1981. Earlier, he obtained his L.L.M (Master in Law) degree from Harvard Law School in 1973. He was a research scholar at the École de Criminologie at the Université de Montréal in Montréal, Canada in 1972–73. He was also awarded various scholarships such as "Boris Kraigher", "Boris Kidrič" and "Dr. Prešeren Award" (highest available for students ) while studying for his Univ. dipl. iur. degree at the Faculty of Law at the University of Ljubljana in Slovenia, between 1966 and 1970. He has reading, writing and speaking proficiency in English, French, Slovenian, and Croatian as well as limited reading and speaking facility in German and Italian. Personal life. Judge Zupančič was born on 13 May 1947, in Ljubljana, Slovenia. He is married and has five children. Memberships. Judge Zupančič is a member of the editorial board of various journals including REVUS, European Constitutionality Review, Revija 2000 and Dignitas, Ljubljana; Society for the Reform of Criminal Law, Vancouver , Canada; and "Pravni Vjesnik", Osijek, Croatia. He is also a member of the advisory board of "Nottingham Law Journal", United Kingdom and "European Journal of Law Reform", Utrecht, The Netherlands as well as a member of the Scientific Committee of "Analele Universităţii București, Seria Drept", Bucharest, Romania. Publications. Judge Zupančič is the author of "The Owl of Minerva: Essays on Human Rights", Eleven International Publishing, 2007, which is a collection of his theories on law and human rights. He has also been an author in leading cases of many separate opinions which have been subject to serious academic review. These  opinions have been collectively published in "The Owlets of Minerva: Human Rights in the Practice of The European Court of Human Rights", Eleven International Publishing, 2011. A detailed review of these books has been published in "The International and Comparative Law Quarterly Journal", Vol. 62:2, April 2013, pp 513–515. Judge Zupančič has also written many scholarly articles on human and constitutional rights including: Summary of Publications in Slovene (1986-2009)