The Khmer Rouge tribunal yesterday announced the appointment of former reserve trial chamber judge Claudia Fenz to replace outgoing judge Silvia Cartwright, whose resignation took effect yesterday.

According to the announcement, Fenz, an Austrian national, has served as a reserve judge at the tribunal since 2006, and has some 30 years of experience on the bench in her home country and elsewhere.

“In 1984 she was appointed judge in the domestic criminal justice system,” the announcement reads. “In 2004, she was appointed an international judge with the UN Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo.… She then served as Head of the Rule of Law section within the EUPOLCOPPS Mission in Palestine, which provides support to the Palestinian police and criminal justice sector [2006-2008].”

Evidentiary hearings in the court’s upcoming Case 002/02 could begin as early as the end of this month.