Key legal question
Whether the entire Lausanne district court had to be recused because applicant L.________ had been appointed vice-president there.
Extracted holding
Yes. The objective appearance of bias was sufficient to require recusal of the court as a body.
Extracted reasoning
Recent appointment to a leading judicial position in the same court created regular professional contacts with the other judges and an objective risk of an appearance of friendship or enmity; impartiality therefore had to be safeguarded by recusal.