THE HAGUE, Netherlands, June 4 (UPI) -- Justice George Gelaga King of Sierra Leone was elected the president of Sierra Leone's international Special Court, a press release states.
He succeeds Justice Shireen Avis Fisher, of the United States, whose term ended Monday.
Justice King has been president of the Sierra Leone Court of Appeal and has also served as Sierra Leone's ambassador to France, Spain, Portugal and Switzerland, the release from the Special Court states.
He has been a judge of the Special Court for Sierra Leone since 2002 and has previously served two terms as president.
Justice Emmanuel Ayoola of Nigeria was re-elected to a fourth term as vice president, and Justice Renate Winter of Austria was elected as an appeals judge.
The Special Court was created by the Sierra Leone government and the United Nations to prosecute those responsible for violations of international and human rights law since 1996.
