We mourn the loss of Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. mult. Albin Eser, M.C.J. (NYU)

We mourn the loss of Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. mult. Albin Eser, M.C.J. (NYU), former director at the Max Planck Institute for Foreign and International Criminal Law in Freiburg, one of the main patrons of the Balkan Criminology initiative.

Prof. Dr. Albin Eser at the official Presentation and Kick-Off of the Max Planck Partner Group for Balkan Criminology in 2013 at University of Zagreb’s Faculty of Law with Prof. Dr. Zoran Parać, Dean of the Law Faculty, Prof. Dr. Davor Derenčinović, Head of the Chair for Criminal Law, Prof. Dr. Hans-Jörg Albrecht, Director of the Max Planck Institute for Foreign and International Criminal Law in Freiburg and Prof. Dr. Anna-Maria Getoš Kalac, Head of the Max Planck Group (from left to right).

Albin Eser studied law at the Universities of Würzburg and Tübingen and at the Free University of Berlin. He was awarded his doctorate from the University of Würzburg in 1962, and seven years later, in 1969, he earned his postdoctoral lecturing qualification at the University of Tübingen with a thesis on penal sanctions involving the deprivation of money or property.

In 1982 Prof. Eser accepted a position at the University of Freiburg and was appointed director at the Max Planck Institute for Foreign and International Criminal Law where he served as director until his retirement in 2003. After 2003, Albin Eser served as a judge at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in The Hague.

Even after his retirement, Albin Eser remained dedicated to the Max Planck Institute in Freiburg actively taking a part in scientific life at the Institute. He passed away in January 2023 at the age of 87.