On 7 February 2017, nineteen Judges were appointed to the Roster of International Judges of the Specialist Chambers by the Appointing Authority, Ms Alexandra Papadopoulou, Head of EULEX Mission in Kosovo, upon the recommendation of the independent Selection Panel.
These appointments include the positions of the Vice-President and of four Judges of the Specialist Chamber of the Constitutional Court. The appointed Judges will only be present at the seat of the Specialist Chambers at the request of the President in order to exercise functions requiring their presence.
On this occasion, the President of the Specialist Chambers, Dr Ekaterina Trendafilova, stated: “I welcome the appointment of such highly qualified lawyers, each of whom – without any doubt – will greatly contribute to our mandate of ensuring fair and efficient justice. As a next step, I will convene the first Plenary of Judges in the near future, during which the Rules of Procedure and Evidence of the Specialist Chambers, regulating the conduct of the judicial proceedings before them, will be adopted.”
The Judges appointed to the Roster of International Judges are:
1. Keith Raynor (Vice-President), United Kingdom
2. Roland Dekkers (Specialist Chamber of the Constitutional Court), Netherlands
3. Ann Power-Forde (Specialist Chamber of the Constitutional Court), Ireland
4. Vidar Stensland (Specialist Chamber of the Constitutional Court), Norway
5. Antonio Balsamo (Specialist Chamber of the Constitutional Court, Reserve Judge), Italy
12. Guénaël Mettraux, Switzerland
13. Vladimir Mikula, Czech Republic
17. Charles Smith III, United States of America
