Prof. Geert-Jan Alexander Knoops was sworn in as a lawyer in 1987, and in addition to his function at Knoops’ Advocaten, he is lead counsel at the International Criminal Court in The Hague. He is a professor by special appointment in the politics of international law at the University of Amsterdam as well as visiting professor of international criminal law at Shandong University (Jinan, China). Prof. Knoops is the Vice President of the European Innocence Network. Prof. Knoops’ legal work includes review procedures and cases heard by the European Court of Justice and European Court of Human Rights. He has in the past served on the Yugoslavia Tribunal (ICTY), the Rwanda Tribunal ( ICTR) and the Special Tribunal for Sierra Leone, as well as being included on the list of lawyers serving on the Cambodia Tribunal in Phnom Penh.
Prof. Knoops was appointed expert advisor in the case for the defense in the Hamden v. Rumsfeld case relating to the Bush administration’s policy towards Guantanamo Bay. He also advised the Obama administration regarding the closure of Guantanamo Bay, and he is advisor to Sunsglow New York, an organization dedicated to the promotion of international law.
As a reserve lieutenant in the Marine Corps of the Netherlands, Prof. Knoops has acted as an advisor during various international exercises. He was an expert witness for the Dutch Parliamentary Committee on the ISAF mission in Uruzgan, Afghanistan and for the Parliamentary Committee on anti-piracy.
He has also written several books on the subject of national and international law. In 2009 he was made an officer of Order of Orange-Nassau for his contributions in the area of legal development in general and in the politics of the Netherlands in particular.
Education
1986 – Netherlands law, civil law (LLM), University of Brabant
1989 – Criminal law and differentiation, University of Utrecht
1998 – PhD. University of Leiden
2000 – Public international law, international criminal law (LLM), University of Leiden
2004 – PhD. National University of Ireland (Irish Centre of Human Rights)
Publications
Prof. Knoops has published articles in many leading national and international journals, and also wrote a weekly column in the Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf.
Scientific books
2016 – Mens Rea at the International Criminal Court
2014 – An Introduction to the Law of International Criminal Tribunals: A Comparative Study (revised edition)
2013 – Redressing Miscarriages of Justice: Practice and Procedures in (inter)national Criminal Cases (revised edition)
2006 – Redressing Miscarriages of Justice: Practice and Procedures in (inter)national Criminal Cases
2005 – Theory and practice of International and Internationalized Criminal Proceedings
2003 – An Introduction to the Law of International Criminal Tribunals: A Comparative Study
2002 – Surrendering to International Criminal Courts: Contemporary Practice and Procedure
2001 – Defenses in Contemporary International Criminal Law
Novels
2022 – Operatie Raaf (with Mrs. Carry Knoops-Hamburger)
2017 – De laatste kamer
2012 – Het Petronius Mysterie
2011 – Blufpoker: de duistere wereld van het internationaal recht
2011 – Amerika versus Bin Laden
2010 – Advocaat van de president
2009 – Advocaat van de vijand
2006 – Het tweede schot