Geoffrey Nice

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Sir Geoffrey Nice QC (born 21 October 1945) is a British barrister.

Biography[]

Nice's family home was in Catford,[1] where he attended St Dunstan's College, and later Keble College, Oxford. He became a barrister in 1971 and was appointed Queen's Counsel in 1990. Since 1984, he has been a part-time judge at the Old Bailey.[2] Geoffrey Nice was made a Knight Bachelor in 2007.[3] In 2009, he was named Vice-Chair of the Bar Standards Board. In 2012 he was appointed the Professor of Law at Gresham College, a position formerly occupied by Baroness Deech.[2] [4]

Nice has been involved with the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY). He was lead prosecutor at the trial of Slobodan Milošević in The Hague and initiated the prosecution's initial case of linking atrocities committed in the former Yugoslavia to Milosevic. He prosecuted the ICTY the cases of the Bosnian Croat Dario Kordić and the successful prosecution of Goran Jelisić.[5] Since working with the ICTY, Nice has been active in the International Criminal Court (ICC) and in pro bono work for victims groups.[2] His practice includes human rights/public law and personal injury.[3]

He was appointed Honorary Doctor of Laws, University of Kent in 2005, and was knighted in 2007 for services to International Criminal Justice.

In 2009 a conviction Nice had presided over was ordered quashed and retried after a Privy Council Appeal found his handling of the case had resulted in an unfair hearing.[6] A report in the Jersey Evening Post claimed the actions could have cost the Jersey taxpayers "millions of pounds."[7]

Nice was the chair of the China Tribunal, an independent tribunal into forced organ harvesting from prisoners of conscience in China. He is also heading a 2021 Uyghur Tribunal by the World Uyghur Congress, which represents exiled Uyghurs.[8]

In 2021, in retaliation for sanctions issued against Chinese officials by the United States, European Union and United Kingdom, the People's Republic of China issued sanctions against Nice that banned him from entering territory that the country controls or from doing business with Chinese persons. A spokesman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry said in a statement that these sanctions were issued due to Nice's spreading of what the Chinese government calls "lies and disinformation" surrounding China's policies regarding Xinjiang.[9][10][11]

He co-authored the 2014 Syrian detainee report.

Politics[]

In the 1983 United Kingdom general election and 1987 United Kingdom general election, he was the Social Democratic Party candidate for Dover.[12]

References[]

  1. ^ Keble Association (1965) Keble College Address List; p. 88
  2. ^ Jump up to: a b c "Professor Sir Geoffrey Nice QC | Gresham College". Gresham.ac.uk. Retrieved 2015-10-31.
  3. ^ Jump up to: a b "EUROPE | Profile: Sir Geoffrey Nice". BBC News. 2002-02-13. Retrieved 2015-10-31.
  4. ^ Advocacy: 'as if' the Person Represented, or 'for' Them? - Sir Geoffrey Nice QC, retrieved 2021-08-14
  5. ^ "PhD studies in human rights: Geoffrey Nice, Milosevic and the Supreme Defence Council". Humanrightsdoctorate.blogspot.com. 2008-01-25. Retrieved 2015-10-31.
  6. ^ "Privy Council Appeal No 0075 of 2008" (PDF). 2011-11-19. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-11-19. Retrieved 2020-07-25.
  7. ^ "'Unfair' judge costs millions « Jersey Evening Post". Jerseyeveningpost.com. 2009-11-06. Retrieved 2015-10-31.
  8. ^ "UK independent tribunal to scrutinise claims of Chinese genocide of Uighurs". The Independent. 2020-09-03. Retrieved 2020-12-14.
  9. ^ Wintour, Patrick (26 March 2021). "China imposes sanctions on UK MPs, lawyers and academic in Xinjiang row". The Guardian.
  10. ^ Wu, Wendy; Bermingham, Finbarr (26 March 2021). "China sanctions British MPs, lawyers, businesses for Xinjiang 'disinformation'". South China Morning Post.
  11. ^ "Uighurs: China bans UK MPs after abuse sanctions". BBC News. 26 March 2021.
  12. ^ https://d3n8a8pro7vhmx.cloudfront.net/hookedonjustice/pages/136/attachments/original/1523967614/legal_aid_letter_to_MPs_WEB_VERS.pdf?1523967614
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