The Special Court for Sierra Leone appears to be testing the flexibility of the law. On 13 March the judges ruled that Geoffrey Robertson could continue to serve as an appeal court judge, but barred him from hearing at least a third of the court's cases (the RUF cases). The judges also decided to reduce the mandate of court president to one year, non-renewable. Robertson, whose position has been weakened by his partial disqualification, was rapidly replaced as court president by the vice-president Renate Winter, an Austrian. Fresh elections for the post will be held in May.