Marko Bošnjak (judge)

Bošnjak began his academic career in 1996 as a research assistant, then in 2002 continued on as a research fellow until 2006, when he became a senior research fellow at the Institute of Criminology at the Faculty of Law at the University of Ljubljana until 2008.[5] While a senior research fellow, he also presided over its scientific council.

From 2005 to 2015, he was assistant professor for Criminal Law and Criminology at the Faculty of Law at the University of Ljubljana. He also lectured at the Faculty of Social Sciences from 2006 to 2012. Since then, he has been associate professor of Criminal Law at the European Law Faculty in Nova Gorica,[6] where he also acted as the Head of the Criminal Law department from 2012 to 2016.

His main areas of academic activity include Criminal Law, Criminal Procedure, Human Rights Law, Constitutional Law, International Law, and Criminology.[3]

Bošnjak joined the Law Firm Čeferin,[4] the largest Slovenian law firm, in 2008, where he became a partner in 2012. During his time, he was the head of the Constitutional and International Law departments, and attorney specialist in Criminal Law matters. He represented clients in several landmark domestic cases, such as that of Franc Kangler, the former mayor of Maribor, Zoran Janković, the mayor of Ljubljana, Igor Bavčar, the former Minister of Interior and Head of Istrabenz Holding.

Internationally, he represented clients before the European Court of Human Rights and the General Court of the European Union. Because of his mandate as a Judge of the European Court of Human Rights, Bošnjak’s attorney status has been put on hold since 2016.

In 2016, Bošnjak was elected judge of the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, France, in respect of Slovenia. He became Vice-President of Section II in 2019, President of Section I in 2022[7] and Vice-President of the Court in November 2022.[8]

He presided over the Grand Chamber in the case of Hurbain vs. Belgium, and over chambers in several landmark judgements of the Court, such as Zurek vs. Poland, Juszczyszin vs. Poland, Tuleya vs. Poland, Safi and others vs. Greece, Darboe and Camarra vs. Italy, and Alhowais vs. Hungary. He submitted several resonant separate opinions in various landmark judgements of the Court, including Big Brother Watch and others vs. The UK, Murtazaliyeva vs. Russia, and Zlicic vs. Serbia.

Bošnjak featured in the delegation of the Court in the official visits to the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg, the Federal Constitutional Court of Germany, to the Supreme Court of Ireland, to Ukraine, Andorra, Lithuania, Slovenia, and others.