Legal expert Luzius Wildhaber, first president of ECHR, dies
Luzius Wildhaber, an international law expert and Professor Emeritus of the University of Basel, has died aged 83. He was the first full-time president of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR).
This content was published on
1 minute
Keystone-SDA/ts
After studying in Basel, Paris, Heidelberg, London and Yale University in the US and a professorship in Fribourg, Wildhaber taught constitutional and international law in his hometown of Basel from 1977 to 1998.
Wildhaber was a part-time judge at the State Court of Liechtenstein from 1975 to 1988. In 1991 he became a judge at the ECHR in Strasbourg, France. He was its first full-time president from 1998 until his retirement in 2007.
In an obituaryExternal link, the ECHR said those who had worked with Wildhaber had met him with great respect and affection. “They will recall his humanity, his sense of humour, his culture and his endlessly enquiring mind. Today the court mourns its former president and is proud to have counted him as one of its number.”
In addition, Wildhaber was head of the expert commission on the total revision of the Swiss Federal Constitution and a member of numerous expert commissions and international arbitration tribunals.
First large-scale alpine solar plant approved in Switzerland
This content was published on
The approval was met with satisfaction by the project's organisers, but it also brings with it a certain amount of pressure.
Medieval squirrels may have ‘helped spread leprosy’
This content was published on
An examination of squirrel remains in the United Kingdom has opened up interesting questions and possibilities in terms of the history of the disease.
Swiss money laundering office registers record number of reports
This content was published on
The Money Laundering Reporting Office Switzerland (MROS) registered a record number of reports of suspicious activity last year.
Two teens accused of planning terror attack released from custody
This content was published on
The Schaffhausen judiciary has released the two teenagers from custody who allegedly planned bomb attacks in Switzerland.
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.
Read more
More
Breaking new ground for human rights
This content was published on
The 47-year-old Swiss professor of law at Zurich University was last week appointed as a judge at the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg. The possibility of passing verdicts which break new ground in human rights law is a key fascination in taking up the position, Keller tells swissinfo.ch on the occasion of her…
This content was published on
A law professor, Malinverni tells swissinfo about the importance of the Strasbourg court, which monitors compliance of the European Court of Human Rights Convention in the 46 member states of the Council of Europe. Malinverni has been the Swiss representative at the court since the beginning of the year. In 2006 there were nine judgements…
This content was published on
At a Council of Europe summit in Warsaw on Tuesday, Schmid also gave his support to moves to define relations between the Council and the recently expanded European Union. Schmid made his comments about the Council of Europe’s legal body on the final day of the historic two-day meeting, which was attended by 46 countries.…
You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here . Please join us!
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.