The ICTY president appointed a three-member panel to consider the prosecution motion for the withdrawal of Judge Frederik Harhoff from the Trial Chamber hearing the case of Vojislav Seselj


Fausto Pocar, president of the Hague Tribunal, appointed today a three-member panel to consider the prosecution’s motion for the disqualification of Danish judge Frederik Harhoff from the Trial Chamber hearing the case of Vojislav Seselj, leader of the Serbian Radical Party. Members of the panel are Liu Daqun from China, Theodor Meron from the USA and O-Gon Kwon from Korea.

The prosecution filed a motion for the disqualification of the Danish judge because in 1993 Harhoff took part – as a Danish Helsinki Committee activist – in interviewing Isak Gashi, who was a refugee in Denmark at the time. Now, Gashi will be called to testify as a prosecution witness in the Vojislav Seselj case.

The task of the three-member panel is to consider whether this contact with the prosecution witness in the same case Judge Harhoff is trying today has compromised his independence and impartiality. If the panel supports the prosecution’s motion, the ICTY president will appoint another judge in the Trial Chamber hearing the case against Seselj. The decision of the three-member panel is final and is not subject to appeal.

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