Attorney at Law Maarten Le Poole said earlier this week he asked the President of the Appeals Court to remove Judge Jurjen de Haan from the bench when the SBRMC case is handled because they want to be sure that the judge is not biased. Le Poole said he wanted the particular judge off the case because he was one of the three judges that made the decisions on November 4th and November 7th, 2011 and both decisions contained a number of legal errors. Le Poole said he formally requested that the judge recues himself from the case. Le Poole said the Appeals Court did not respond to his request and that left him no choice but to address the matter on Friday morning when the SBRMC injunction hearing was about to start. Attorney Maarten Le Poole further explained when he addressed the matter the President of the Appeals Court tried to brush aside his concerns which left him no choice but to challenge the judge. Le Poole said he does not like to challenge judges because it is a very embarrassing situation but if it is in the interest of the justice then he has to do it. "I asked the judge to excuse himself last week because he was one of the judges that ruled on November 4th and November 7th last year and I think it is not right for him to be sitting on the bench for this hearing and there was no response. On Friday morning when I mentioned it, the President of the court made a remark and said we are not here to discuss these types of things. Therefore, I had no other option but to challenge the judge. In the interest of impartiality I had no choice but to challenge the judge," Le Poole told reporters.
Shortly after the challenge was submitted, the court adjourned and a new panel of judges was installed for the "challenge hearing." Attorneys Wim van Sambeek and Maarten Le Poole made their arguments to the court on the challenge and the court is expected to pronounce its decision on Wednesday April 19th, 2012. The court will also decide on what date when the injunction filed SBRMC will be heard.
