April 3, 2019 --  UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has appointed Nicholas Koumjian of the United States as head of the Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar, said his press office.

 

Koumjian will be the first head of the Myanmar mechanism, which was established by the Human Rights Council on Sept. 27, 2018 and welcomed by the General Assembly on Dec. 22, 2018, the office said in a statement.

 

Koumjian brings to this position over 35 years of experience as prosecutor, including almost 20 years of experience in the field of international criminal justice.

 

Since November 2013, he has been serving as the International Co-Prosecutor for the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia.

 

Koumjian previously served as Trial Attorney at the International Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, as Deputy General Prosecutor for serious crimes in Timor-Leste, as International Prosecutor in the War Crimes Section of the Prosecutor's Office for Bosnia and Herzegovina, and as Principal Trial Attorney and Senior Appeals Counsel in the Special Court for Sierra Leone.

 

In addition, he also worked as a prosecutor in the United States of America and has professional experience in the fields of international human rights law and transitional justice.

 

Koumjian holds a Juris Doctorate degree from the University of North Carolina and a Master of Business Administration from the University of California, Los Angeles