Formerly an investigating judge in Lugano, then public prosecutor for the canton of Ticino and Attorney General of the Swiss Confederation, Carla Del Ponte investigated cases of economic crime, international drug trafficking and organised crime. Her pugnacity made her a formidable and feared prosecutor. Convinced of the need for cross-border cooperation, she was also intensively involved in international mutual legal assistance.

In 1999, Carla Del Ponte was appointed Prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia and then of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda. From September 2012 to August 2017, she was a member of the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Syria under the auspices of the United Nations Human Rights Council.

The mafia, white-collar criminals, and war criminals were all in her sights, as she dealt with cases as notorious as they were sensitive. In the mid-1990s, she investigated an international financial scandal involving former president Boris Yeltsin, his family and associates, suspected of embezzlement and money laundering. In 2008, in a book co-written with American journalist Chuck Sudetic, “The Hunt: Me and War Criminals”, she denounced the trafficking of organs taken from Serbian prisoners abducted in Kosovo.

Throughout her career, and armed with the authority vested in her, she dared to denounce the culpable attitude of certain governments towards genocide. Her courage and the opinions she expressed made her one of the people on the planet most open to attack, in need of 24-hour protection. A woman of great integrity, Carla Del Ponte has received numerous awards and honours, including the “Zolfanello d’oro” prize “for having kindled hope for justice”.