Dr. Lachezar Yanev is an Associate Professor of International Criminal Law at the Department of Criminal Law and Criminology of the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. He is also Co-Director of the “Law in Society” bachelor’s programme and lectures undergraduate and postgraduate courses in comparative and international criminal law.

Lachezar received his Ph.D. (cum laude) in international criminal law form Tilburg University in 2016. His dissertation examined the different constructions of co-perpetration responsibility that have been developed by the international courts and tribunals, and thereby sought to create a uniform approach for constructing this mode of liability. He also holds a LL.M. degree (2010, cum laude) in international criminal and human rights law from Utrecht University.

Lachezar’s research interests and publications extend in the areas of international jurisdictional, criminal and human rights law. He is the author of the monograph ‘Theories of Co-Perpetration in International Criminal Law’ (2018, Brill | Nijhoff) and a co-editor of ‘Modes of Liability in International Criminal Law’ (2019, Cambridge University Press). In 2021, he was awarded the Early Career Award of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW). He is currently a member of the Editorial Boards of the Leiden Journal of International Law and of Tekst en Commentaar: Internationaal Strafrecht.

Lachezar has previously worked as an assistant legal officer in Trial Chamber II of the Special Court for Sierra Leone, and also clerked at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia and at the International Criminal Court.