Aug. 21 (Bloomberg) -- The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia assigned the case against former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic to a different group of judges after he asked for a new panel.

Karadzic last week asked Fausto Pocar, the court's president, to take Dutch Judge Alphons Orie off the case. Karadzic had argued that a sentence imposed on one of his collaborators by Orie in an earlier case was overly harsh.

Pocar moved the case to Trial Chamber III from Trial Chamber I, according to a court order distributed by e-mail today. Court spokeswoman Nerma Jelacic said the decision wasn't related to Karadzic's request.

The transfer of cases between judges is typically done ``with effective trial management in mind, such as equal distribution of the workload,'' Jelacic said in a telephone interview.

The tribunal still has to decide which judge will preside over the next hearing set for Aug. 29, though it won't be Orie, Jelacic said. Orie presided over an initial hearing on July 31.

Karadzic, 63, who spent 13 years in hiding, is accused with former Bosnian Serb military commander Ratko Mladic of atrocities against Muslims and Croats during the 1992-95 Bosnia conflict. About 250,000 people were killed during the war and 1.8 million forced to flee. Karadzic was arrested in Belgrade last month, while Mladic, 66, is still at large.

To contact the reporter on this story: Marcel van de Hoef in Amsterdam at mvandehoef@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: August 21, 2008 08:04 EDT