Mr. Anthony Thomas Aquinas Carmona, SC

Mr. Anthony Thomas Aquinas Carmona was born in the tiny coastal village of Los Charros, Palo Seco, on March 7, 1953 to Dennis Stephen and Barbara Carmona.

The eldest of three boys and three girls, Mr. Carmona attended the Santa Flora Government Primary School while the family lived at Dalley’s Village, Santa Flora. After writing the Common Entrance examination, Mr. Carmona passed for Presentation College, San Fernando and then moved on to the University of the West Indies (UWI) where he attained a Bachelor of Arts Degree in English and Political Science (Mona, Jamaica), and a Bachelor of Laws (Cave Hill, Barbados).

He taught language and linguistics at the UWI from 1981 to 1983. Later, he returned to UWI to be a senior tutor in politics in the Department of Government for approximately four years. He was also a teacher at the Palo Seco Government Secondary School, the Fyzabad Anglican Secondary School, as well as at St. Hugh’s High School and Merle Grove High School, Kingston, Jamaica.

In 1983, Mr. Carmona was admitted to practice at the Bar of Trinidad and Tobago after completing his training at the Hugh Wooding Law School.

Mr. Carmona has served as a prosecutor at both the national and international levels for some 21 years. He served at the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions from 1983-2000, during which time he attained the posts of Assistant Director of Public Prosecutions, Deputy Director of Public Prosecutions, and also served as Acting Director of Public Prosecutions. From 2001 to 2004, he held the post of Appeals Counsel in the Office of the Prosecutor at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) and the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR). In this capacity, he successfully prosecuted appeals of persons convicted of crimes within the jurisdiction of the Tribunals, namely generals, camp commanders, soldiers and politicians.

Mr Carmona was the Legal Advisor in criminal law to then President Arthur N.R. Robinson on issues relating to the International Criminal Court and participated in meetings of the Preparatory Committee on the establishment of the ICC.

He was elected a judge at the ICC on 12 December 2011.

President Carmona is the 5th President of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago. He is married to Reema Harrysingh-Carmona and is a father of two.