Georghios Pikis was a distinguished jurist who served as President of the Supreme Court of Cyprus and as a member of the International Criminal Court. He was born in Larnaca in 1939. After completing his studies, he was admitted to the Bar in 1961 and practised law in Larnaca from 1961 to 1966.
In September 1966, he was appointed District Judge in Limassol. In 1967, he was transferred to Famagusta, where he served until 1974, when he became a refugee following the Turkish invasion. In 1972, he was promoted to Deputy President of a District Court and in 1977 to permanent President. Between 1974 and 1981, he served as President of the Larnaca–Famagusta District Court.
In 1981, he was appointed Judge of the Supreme Court, a position he held until March 1995, when he was appointed President of the Supreme Court. He retired from this post in 2004, following his election to the International Criminal Court, where he served until March 2009. During his tenure at the Supreme Court of Cyprus, Georghios Pikis also served as an ad hoc judge at the European Court of Human Rights. From 1995, he was also a member of the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague, and from 1996 to 1998 he served as a member of the United Nations Committee against Torture. In his capacity as President of the Supreme Court of Cyprus, he also served until 2004 as President of the Conference of Presidents of the Constitutional Courts of Europe.
On 28 March 2013, the Council of Ministers decided to appoint an Investigative Committee to examine the circumstances that led to the condition of the banking system and the wider economy of Cyprus. Georghios Pikis (former President of the Supreme Court and former member of the International Court of Justice in The Hague) was appointed Chair, with Panayiotis Kallis and Yiannakis Constantinides (former Supreme Court judges) appointed as members.
Georghios Pikis authored several legal books and conducted studies on various aspects of law. Among his publications are Criminal Procedure in Cyprus (co-authored with Andreas Loizou), Sentencing in Cyprus, The English Common Law and Principles of Equity and Their Application in Cyprus, and Basic Aspects of Cyprus Law. His most recent work was Constitutionalism – Human Rights – Separation of Powers: The Cyprus Precedent.