NATIONALITY: ITALY
Date of appointment: 7 February 2017
Biography:
Judge Antonio Balsamo was appointed President of the Court of Palermo in July 2021. He further served as Professor of Criminal law at the Faculty of Law of the LUMSA in Palermo. He previously served as President of the Court of Assize of Caltanissetta from 2011 to 2018, and as Deputy Prosecutor General of the Italian Supreme Court of Cassation from 2016 to 2018. Prior to this, Judge Balsamo was Judge seconded to the Italian Supreme Court of Cassation from 2007 to 2011 and Judge of the Court of Palermo from 1992 to 2007. He also served as Presiding Member of the Human Rights Review Panel of EULEX in Kosovo from May 2010 to May 2012. Judge Balsamo participated as an expert and consultant in EU projects concerning the reform of the Criminal Code of Bulgaria, the establishment of a Public Prosecutors Office to deal with organized crime and corruption in the FYROM, and human trafficking in Turkey. He was a member of several Italian judicial committees and boards. Judge Balsamo holds a law degree from the University of Palermo (Italy), and received his specialization Diploma in Regional and Local Government Law from the University of Palermo. He was appointed as a trainee Judge in 1991. He has published extensively on various topics related to criminal law and the protection of human rights at both the national and international level.
cases/functions AT THE KSC
Member of the KSC Specialist Chamber of the Constitutional Court since February 2017.
Member of Constitutional Court panels seised with, inter alia, the referral by the President of the Kosovo Parliament and referrals related to the KSC Rules of Procedure and Evidence (first;second; third).