New Judges and New Rules

These reserve judges will be present at each stage of the proceedings and will replace a judge overseeing the case if he or she is unable to go on. The aim is to avoid situations where a trial is forced to re-start because of the withdrawal of a judge.



Two new ad litem or temporary judges were also sworn at the tribunal this week – Stefan Trechsel from Switzerland and Arpad Prandler from Hungary.



They are due to work on the case against Prlić and five others - former high-ranking political and military Bosnian Croat officials of the self-proclaimed Republic of Herceg-Bosna who are charged with the ethnic cleansing of Muslims and other non-Croats who lived in the area.



The trial is scheduled to start sometime before the tribunal takes its summer break in July.