Council of Europe

Mr Antonio MURA

After having been public prosecutor in Leghorn and then judge of the criminal court of Florence, Antonio Mura was elected as a member of the Italian High Council of the Judiciary (years 1994-1998). In that role he has also been President of the Commission for the evaluation of the professional skills of judges and public prosecutors and President of the Commission for judicial reforms.

Since 1998 he has been working as Deputy Prosecutor General of the Italian Supreme Court in Rome. The criminal cases dealt with in this capacity include several mafia cases (against the top management of criminal organizations from Sicily and other parts of Southern Italy, as well as the perpetrators of several murders, also of judges and public prosecutors), terrorism (attacks committed by the so-called Red Brigades, with murders of policemen), bribery, kidnappings, human trafficking etc. He is also a member of the Department for International Relations of the General Prosecution Office.

Owing to the re-election in Yerevan (Armenia) in September 2008 (after four previous elections for biennial terms: Recife, Brazil, September 2000; Alicante, Spain, February 2003; Valle de Bravo, Mexico, November 2004; Siofok, Hungary, September 2006), he is also the Secretary-General of the International Association of Judges, that encompasses today 74 national associations of judges, from five Continents.

Frequently invited as a speaker at international congresses, he is author of articles on criminal justice, judicial organization and ethics, published both in Italian and in foreign legal reviews.
International activities (a selection):

- speaker on topics related to the fight against traffics of human beings run by criminal organizations (EuroJustice Conference held in Lisbon, Portugal, in October 2005; Wilton Park Conference, Steyning, UK, June 2007; meeting with judges and government officials of the Republic of Turkey –Rome, July 9th, 2008– within the project of the European Commission and the International Organization for Migration: “Supporting Turkey’s Efforts to Combat Human Trafficking and Promote Access to Justice for All Trafficked Persons”);

- he took part in the round table organized by the ECRI in Rome (May 3rd, 2007), related to the Action plan on relations with civil society;

- member of the Italian delegation at the Conference organized by the Council of Europe in St. Petersburg (Russia) in July 2008, on “The Role of Public Prosecution in the Protection of Human Rights and Public Interests outside the Criminal Law Field”;

- he gave lessons on “The European Arrest Warrant” and “Organized Crime” at the Master of Laws on “International Organizations, International Criminal Law and Crime Prevention” organized by the University of Turin and UNICRI (United Nations Interregional Crime and Justice Research Institute): Turin, Italy, May 2007 and June 2008;

- appointed as a member of the Working Group of Experts of the Consultative Council of European Prosecutors (CCPE), instituted by the Council of Europe (Strasbourg, October 2008);

- on the occasion of the conference of the Prosecutors General of Asia and Europe – ASEM – held in Shenzhen (China) in December 2005: speaker on “Judicial Cooperation and Coordination of Investigations on International Terrorism”;

- he took part in the works of the Drafting Group on the Reinforcement of the Human Rights Protection Mechanism (CDDH-GDR): Strasbourg, November 2003 and March 2004;

- speaker on “Professional ethics of judges, prosecutors and lawyers” (Struga, FYROM, June 2002), as expert of the Council of Europe.

Language skills: Italian (native speaker), English (fluent), French (basic).