If Judge Sinisa Gluhajic does not return from sick leave by June 12th, when the appeal proceedings before the Appellate Panel of the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) are scheduled in the case against Milorad Dodik, President of Republika Srpska (RS), and Milos Lukic, acting director of the Public Enterprise “Official Gazette of RS,” the judicial institution stated that the process and pace of work on cases do not suffer due to a judge’s absence and that in this regard it is customary to appoint a replacement.
They stated that every proceeding surpasses the right to a fair trial, which includes trial within a reasonable time, and added that it is entirely customary for changes to occur in the composition of the Appellate Panel.
“Therefore, it is customary for a change to occur in the presiding judge or a member of the panel, considering that it is unjustified for the pace of work of the reporting judge to depend on the presence/absence of a panel member who can be replaced. In that regard, as in many other cases, public sessions in the situation of the absence of the president or a panel member are almost always held, with a replacement being appointed,” said the Court of BiH.
