Peta Louise Bagott

Practice Areas

Peta-Louise Bagott is an experienced practitioner that principally defends those charged with genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes. She has acted in numerous in high-profile, and politically charged cases.

Career

Peta-Louise Bagott is a barrister who specialises in international criminal law. She has experience of proceedings before international and hybrid courts, including the International Criminal Court, International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals, and International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. Alongside this, she has advised individuals and organisations on areas within her expertise.

Publications

‘The burden and standard of proof and Article 6, ECHR’ in Ben Douglas-Jones C, Daniel Bunting, Paul Mason, Benjamin Newton (eds.)) Human Rights in Criminal Law (Bloomsbury)

‘How to Solve a Problem Like Al Mahdi: Proposals for a new crime of ‘attacks against cultural heritage’” in Brianne McGonigle Leyh and Julie Fraser (eds.) Intersections of Law and Culture at the International Criminal Court (Edward Elgar)

Peta-Louise regularly contributes to Annotated Leading Cases of International Criminal Tribunals (André Klip and Steven Freeland (eds.))

Work Highlights

Notable cases include:

- Situation in the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan (International Criminal Court) assisting Tim Moloney KC and Megan Hirst, the case involved successfully arguing for the Appeals Chamber to overturn Pre Trial-Chamber II’s decision refusing authorisation of an investigation into crimes committed in Afghanistan.

- The Prosecutor v Ratko Mladić (International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals) – Peta-Louise acted as a legal consultant for the appeal proceedings, and was granted rights of audience for the appeal hearing. She successfully argued against the Prosecutor’s appeal to overturn the acquittal for genocide in the municipalities.

- The Prosecutor v Radovan Karadžić (International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals): Together with Felicity Gerry QC and a group of international scholars, Peta-Louise was granted leave to file as Amicus Curiae in the Appeals Chamber as the second lead applicant. The observations relate to the relevance of the judgement of the UK Supreme Court and Judicial Committee of the Privy Council in R v Jogee; Ruddock v The Queen to the ad hoc tribunals’ jurisprudence concerning the mens rea of the third category of common purpose liability (“JCE-III”) as it exists at customary international law.

- The Prosecutor v Bosco Ntganda (International Criminal Court): Peta-Louise was granted leave by the Appeals Chamber to file submissions as amicus curiae under rule 103 on the definition of ‘attack’ in article 8(2)(e)(iv) of the Rome Statute.

Languages Spoken

French