Rosario Salvatore Aitala is an Italian jurist specialising in criminal law. Aitala was elected as a judge of the International Criminal Court in 2017, for a mandate from 11 March 2018 to 10 March 2027.
Aitala was born in Catania in Italy on .
Prior to becoming a judge, Aitala was a police officer.
Aitala has been a judge and a prosecutor in Milan, Trapani and Rome for three decades, specialising in criminal law cases involving the Mafia, terrorism, corruption and international crime including terrorism.
On 6 December 2017, Aitala was elected as a judge of the International Criminal Court (ICC), with 84 votes in favour by states party to the Rome Statute. His term as an ICC judge is from 11 March 2018 to 10 March 2027. He was a judge of Pre-Trial Chamber II from 2018 and was elected as its presiding judge from 2021. In March 2023, Russia initiated a criminal investigation against Aitala, Tomoko Akane and Sergio Gerardo Ugalde Godinez in response of an arrest warrant against its president Vladimir Putin for the unlawful deportations of Ukrainian children to Russia during the Russian-Ukrainian war.
Since March 2024, judge Aitala has served as First Vice-President of the Court, after being elected to the position by his fellow ICC judges.
Aitala has been an advisor to Italian foreign ministers and the president of the Italian Senate. In European Union (EU) roles, Aitala has been Coordinator of the Cocaine Route Monitoring and Support Programme of the European Union, and an advisor for EU assistance missions for justice and monitoring money laundering and economic crime.
Aitala has carried out research and teaching in criminal law, geopolitics and international relations at LUISS Guido Carli, Universitàdegli Studi della Campania Luigi Vanvitelli (2006âÂÂ2014), and University of Rome Tor Vergata.