PORT OF SPAIN, April 9 (Reuters) - Trinidad and Tobago's former Prime Minister and President A.N.R. (Ray) Robinson, one of the architects of the International Criminal Court, died on Wednesday at age 87 after a long illness.
National Security Minister Gary Griffith confirmed the death of Robinson who served as prime minister from 1986 to 1991 and as president from 1997 to 2003.
Robinson is internationally recognized for his proposal, at the 44th session of the United Nations in 1989, to create a permanent international court to hear cases involving the international drug trade.
The proposal revived earlier calls for a world court to deal with crimes against humanity and helped lead to the inauguration of the ICC, which is based in The Hague, Netherlands, in 2002.
During his tenure as prime minister, Robinson and members of his government and lawmakers were held hostage in the parliament for six days in July 1990 by members of the radical Muslim group, Jamaat al Muslimeen, during an attempt to overthrow the government.
Robinson was the recipient of several international awards, among them the Distinguished International Criminal Law Award of 1977 and the Distinguished Human Development Award of 1983. (Reporting by Linda Hutchinson-Jafar; Editing by David Adams and Tom Brown)
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