The International Criminal Court (CPI) announced Thursday a decision which has been widely recognized as historic.

A panel of three judges, known as Pre-Trial Chamber I, ruled arrest warrants For Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and Hamas military commander Mohammed Deif for a series of war crimes and crimes against humanity.

The arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant mark the first time in the court’s 22-year history that arrest warrants have been issued against senior Western allied officials.

The long-awaited decision came six months after chief prosecutor Karim Khan requested it, as Israel’s devastating attack on Gaza continues, with more than 44,000 Palestinians killed since October last year.

The delay in responding to the apparently urgent request guest speculation on the impact ofWE pressure on the court.

For more than a year, the United States and Israel have contested the jurisdiction of the ICC and threatened its judges with reprisals, including sanctions. Israel has also challenged the impartiality of its judges.

But on November 21, the judges still made the decision.

The ICC has a total of 18 judges who sit in different chambers, including the pre-trial, trial and appeal chambers.

Judges are nominated by states parties to the Rome Statute, the ICC’s founding treaty, and then elected by the Assembly of States Parties, the court’s governing body.

Judges must demonstrate high moral character, impartiality and integrity, and meet the qualifications required in their home country for appointment to the highest judicial offices.

Once elected, ICC judges serve a non-renewable nine-year term.

Below are profiles of the three judges serving in Pre-Trial Chamber I, who were responsible for reviewing evidence and issuing warrants related to the case. situation in Palestine.

Judge Nicolas Guillou

Judge Nicolas Guillou, of Franceis the president of Pre-Trial Chamber I, which issued the arrest warrant against the Israeli leaders.

He began his term on March 11, 2024.

Guillou previously spent four years as a pre-trial judge with the Kosovo Specialist Chambers. He also served as Chief of Staff to the President of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (2015-2019) and Liaison Prosecutor at the US Department of Justice (2012-2015).

Between 2006 and 2012, Guillou worked at the Ministry of Justice as deputy head of the commercial law section, advisor to the minister responsible for criminal affairs and diplomatic advisor to the minister.

Judge Reine Alapini-Gansou

Judge Reine Alapini-Gansou, of Benin, is the second vice-president of the ICC and a member of Pre-Trial Chamber I.

She was a member of the Pre-Trial Chamber, which issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin in March. On November 13, a court in Moscow ordered his arrest in absentia due to what the court called an “illegal” arrest warrant issued against Putin.

Alapini-Gansou began his mandate as a judge at the ICC on March 11, 2018.

Before joining the ICC, Alapini-Gansou served as Chair of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights, the main human rights body in Africa (2009-2012) and Special Rapporteur on the situation of defenders of human rights in Africa (2005-2009 and 2012-2017).

In 2011, she was appointed a judge at the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague, the world’s oldest international court.

Alapini-Gansou has served as a pre-trial judge in numerous cases, notably in the Democratic Republic of Congo, LibyaMali, Myanmar, Bolivia and Belarus.

Judge Beti Hohler

Judge Beti Hohler of Slovenia is a member of Pre-Trial Chamber I.

She was appointed to the chamber in October, following a sudden request for leave from his predecessor, Romanian Justice Iulia Motoc, for health reasons.

Hohler is also a member of Trial Chamber V of the ICC, currently presiding over the case of The Prosecutor against Alfred Yekatom and Patrice-Edouard Ngaissona.

She began her term as an ICC judge on March 11, 2024. Prior to that, she served as a trial lawyer in the ICC Office of the Prosecutor.

Before joining the ICC in 2015, Hohler was an advisor to the EU rule of law mission in Kosovo.

In February 2015, she wrote a legal and political work briefing commenting on Palestine’s accession to the ICC. In his analysis, Hohler explained the legal consequences of Palestinian membership, how Israel can challenge the court, and the extent of the court’s jurisdiction over Israelis and non-Palestinians. She concluded that “with Palestine’s accession to the status, the legal framework has changed and the parties to the conflict would do well to accept and respect it.”

Hohler began her career in Ljubljana, Slovenia, where she worked at the Court of Appeal before working as a senior associate in a law firm.

She regularly trains judges and lawyers. Hohler is also co-founder of the Institute for International Legal Education and Advocacy in The Hague.